The  Tariff 

A  Review  of  the  Tariff  Legislation  of  the 
United  States  from  1812  to  1896 


By 

William  McKinley 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 
New  York  and  London 
Ubc  fwicfeerbocfcer  press 

1904 


COPYRIGHT,    1896 
BY 

THOMAS  E.  O'SHEA 


PUBLISHERS'  NOTE. 

The  essay  presented  in  this  volume  was  written  by  the 
late  William  McKinley  in  the  spring  of  1896,  a  few 
weeks  before  his  nomination  for  the  first  term  of  his 
presidency.  It  was  prepared  for  use  in  connection  with 
a  reprint  that  was  then  in  course  of  publication  of  the 
Writings  of  Henry  Clay.  The  adherents  of  the  protec- 
tive policy  have,  as  a  rule,  referred  to  Henry  Clay  as  the 
founder  of  the  protective  system  in  the  United  States, 
and  it  is  the  case  that  the  Tariff  of  1824,  which  was 
framed  under  Clay's  personal  direction,  was  the  begin- 
ning of  the  series  of  tariffs  which  had  for  their  purpose 
consideration  of  protection  of  American  producers  as 
well  as  to  some  extent  the  requirements  of  the  national 
treasury. 

The  protective  system  as  it  exists  to-day,  having  been 
accepted,  during  the  greater  number  of  years  since  the 
war,  by  a  majority  of  the  voters  of  the  country  as  the 
national  policy  best  suited  in  their  judgment  for  the 
nation's  industrial  requirements,  may  very  properly  be 
connected  with  the  name  of  William  McKinley. 

The  bill  bearing  McKinley's  name,  which  was  en- 
acted in  1890,  is  the  basis  of  the  tariff  that  is  in  force  in 
1904.  It  was  the  case  that  Mr.  McKinley,  as  chairman  of 
the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  in  the  House,  not  only 
gave  to  the  act  his  name,  but  gave  to  the  preparation  of 
the  schedules  months  of  arduous  toil.  He  was  himself  a 
thorough  and  conscientious  believer  in  the  principles  of 

iii 


iv  PUBLISHERS'   NOTE 

protection  and  in  the  contention  that  the  needs  of  our 
country  could  best  be  furthered,  and  could  in  fact  only  be 
properly  furthered,  by  a  system  of  high  tariff  taxation. 

The  Dingley  Tariff  Act,  which  is  the  law  now  in  force, 
was  enacted  under  Mr.  McKinley's  presidency  and  repre- 
sented the  policy  of  his  administration  and  the  personal 
beliefs  of  its  head.  The  Dingley  Tariff  Bill  stands  for 
the  high-tide  of  the  protective  system. 

If  there  be  value  in  the  theories  of  the  protectionists, 
and  if  it  be  possible  to  add  to  the  wealth  of  the  country 
by  creating  under  the  authority  of  the  government  ob- 
stacles to  foreign  commerce  and  barriers  to  the  introduc- 
tion of  foreign  productions,  the  Dingley  Tariff  Act  ought 
to  insure  for  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  an  endur- 
ing measure  of  prosperity. 

This  was  the  full  belief  of  President  McKinley, 
although  it  is  the  case  that,  during  both  his  presidential 
terms,  and  particularly  during  the  last  year  of  his  life, 
he  expressed  himself  as  strongly  in  favor  of  bringing 
about,  by  means  of  reciprocity  treaties,  some  modification 
in  the  protective  system  and  a  lowering  of  the  barriers 
which  stood  in  the  way  of  trade  with  certain  countries, 
provided  that  these  countries  would  extend  reciprocal 
concessions  on  the  productions  of  the  United  States. 

The  essay  presents  a  comprehensive  survey  of  the 
history  of  protection  in  the  United  States  and  of  the 
grounds  on  which  successive  generations  of  American 
statesmen  have  been  prepared  to  confirm  and  to  extend 
the  system.  It  constitutes,  therefore,  a  valuable  addition 
to  the  economic  history  of  the  country,  and  also  to  our 
political  history,  which  has  been  so  largely  based  upon, 
and  interwoven  with,  economic  conditions. 


PUBLISHERS'  NOTE  v 

This  essay,  taken  in  connection  with  the  speech  on  re- 
ciprocity treaties  which  was  the  last  utterance  of  Presi- 
dent McKinley,  constitutes  also  a  valuable  expression  of 
his  methods  of  thought  and  of  his  understanding  of  the 
purposes  and  the  results  of  the  protection  creed  of  the 
Eepublican  Party. 

The  volume  should,  therefore,  be  found  of  special  in- 
terest during  the  present  year,  when  the  Eepublican 
Party  is  again  presenting  for  the  approval  of  American 
voters  a  platform  which  provides  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  protective  measures  of  McKinley  and  Dingley.  It 
is  on  this  ground  that  the  publishers  have  thought  it  in 
order  to  make  separate  publication  of  the  essay  in  con- 
venient form  for  ready  reference  and  for  general  dis- 
tribution. 

NEW  YORK,  April  10,  1904. 


OF  THE 

UN:  TY 


CHAPTER  i. 

THE    TAKIFF    IN    THE    DAYS    OF   HENRY 
CLAY  AND  SINCE 

HENRY  CLAY  was  conspicuously  and  always  a  protec- 
tionist. As  the  acquaintance  or  friend  of  many  of  the 
founders  of  the  Government,  and  of  their  immediate  suc- 
essors  in  office,  he  learned  from  them  his  early  lessons 
in  political  economy  and  statesmanship,  and  profited  by 
their  illustrious  example.  Born  in  Virginia  in  1777, 
he  had  revered  Washington  with  the  ardor  of  youth  ; 
had  become  the  clerk  and  protege*  of  the  learned  and 
venerable  Chancellor  Wythe  ;  and  was  inspired  to  his 
first  oratorical  efforts  by  the  splendid  eloquence  of 
Patrick  Henry.  Agreeing  with  the  doctrines  of  Adams 
and  Hamilton,  he  yet  espoused  the  cause  of  Jefferson 
and  entered  Congress  in  1806,  during  his  second  term 
as  President.  Intimately  associated  with  that  great 
statesman,  he  participated  with  Madison,  Monroe,  and 
the  younger  Adams  in  the  administration  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, and  for  forty  years  earnestly  advocated  the 
great  principles  for  which  they  in  common  contended. 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Kepresentatives  he  sup- 
ported the  several  protective  tariff  laws  —  five  in  num- 
ber—enacted from  July  1,  1812,  to  February  5,  1816, 
which  enabled  the  Government  to  successfully  defray 
the  extraordinary  expenses  of  our  second  war  with  Eng- 
land. These  laws  increased  the  entire  list  of  duties  one 
hundred  per  cent.  ;  doubled  the  rates,  and  placed  a 


2  THE  TAKIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

further  duty  of  ten  per  cent,  upon  the  goods  imported 
in  foreign  vessels,  besides  the  large  tonnage-tax  of  $1.50 
per  ton  to  the  vessel.  Under  such  a  policy  the  Ameri- 
can market  was  reserved  for  the  American  manufac- 
turer; and,  notwithstanding  the  severe  drain  and  waste 
of  the  war,  our  country  emerged  from  it  more  prosper- 
ous and  wealthier  than  it  had  been  at  its  beginning. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  Mr.  Clay  embraced  with 
such  fervency  the  advocacy  of  internal  improvements 
and  the  firm  establishment  of  the  protective  theory  as 
the  two  great  essentials  of  what  he  termed  "  the  Ameri- 
can system."  In  a  speech  in  January,  1816,  he  said : 

"I  would  effectually  protect  our  manufactories.  I 
would  afford  them  protection  not  so  much  for  the  sake 
of  the  manufacturers  themselves  as  for  the  general 
interest." 

This  was  the  animating  principle  of  his  whole  career. 

Despite  the  caution  of  Mr.  Madison  against  precipi- 
tancy,* Congress  supplanted  these  measures  with  the 
act  of  April  27,  1816,  greatly  reducing  the  war  duties. 
This  bill  did  not  receive  the  vote  or  support  of  Mr. 
Clay.  Its  effects  were  foreseen  and  deprecated  by  him, 
and  were  described  some  years  later  as  "  most  deplora- 
ble." "  We  behold,"  said  he,  "  general  distress  pervad- 
ing the  whole  country;  unthreshed  crops  of  grain 
perishing  in  our  barns  for  want  of  market ;  an  alarming 


*  In  his  special  message  of  February  20,  1815,  transmitting  a  copy  of  the 
treaty  of  peace  with  England,  President  Madison  declared:  "There  is  no 
subject  that  can  enter  with  greater  force  and  merit  into  the  deliberations  of 
Congress  than  a  consideration  of  the  means  to  preserve  and  promote  the 
manufactures  which  have  sprung  into  existence  and  attained  an  unparalleled 
maturity  throughout  the  United  States  during  the  period  of  the  European 
wars.  This  source  of  National  independence  and  wealth  I  anxiously  recom- 
mend, therefore,  to  the  prompt  and  constant  guardianship  of  Congress." 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  3 

diminution  of  the  circulating  medium ;  universal  com- 
plaint of  the  want  of  employment,  and  consequent 
reduction  of  the  wages  of  labor.  To  add  to  these  evils 
there  is,  above  all,  a  low  and  depressed  state  of  the 
value  of  almost  every  description  of  property  in  the 
Nation,  which  has,  on  an  average,  sunk  not  less  than 
fifty  per  cent,  within  a  few  years." 

Col.  Benton's  picture  of  the  deplorable  condition  was 
no  less  graphic.  "  No  medium  of  exchange  exists,"  said 
he,  "  but  depreciated  paper ;  no  change  even,  but  little 
bits  of  foul  paper,  marked  so  many  cents,  and  signed  by 
tradesman,  barber,  or  innkeeper ;  exchanges  deranged  to 
the  extent  .of  fifty  to  one  hundred  per  cent.  Distress 
the  universal  cry  of  the  people,  relief  the  universal 
demand  thundered  at  the  doors  of  all  legislatures,  State 
and  Federal." 

Mr.  Clay  made  a  gallant  effort  to  enact  a  more 
efficient  tiariff  in  1820,  and  carried  his  bill  through  the 
House,  to  be  indefinitely  postponed  in  the  Senate  by  a 
single  vote.  It  was  at  this  time  that  he  said : 

"The  War  of  the  Revolution  effected  our  political 
emancipation.  The  late  war  (1812)  contributed  greatly 
to  our  commercial  freedom,  but  our  complete  independ- 
ence will  only  be  consummated  after  the  policy  of 
protection  shall  be  recognized  and  adopted." 

No  relief  came  until  the  passage  of  the  act  of  May 
22,  1824,  which  was  largely  the  work  of  Mr.  Clay,  and 
enacted  through  his  controlling  skill  and  genius.  This 
was  not  a  partisan  measure,  nor  was  it  enacted  by 
sectional  divisions  in  either  branch  of  Congress. 

In  the  House,  for  example,  the  bill  was  supported  by 
such  prominent  Democrats  as  James  Buchanan,  of  Penn- 


4  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

sylvania;  Louis  McLane,  of  Maryland,  and  Samuel 
Houston,  of  Texas ;  in  the  Senate,  by  such  leaders  as 
Andrew  Jackson,  of  Tennessee,  Thomas  H.  Benton,  of 
Missouri,  Martin  Van  Buren,  of  New  York,  and  Richard 
M.  Johnson,  of  Kentucky.  It  will  be  observed  that  in 
this  conspicuous  group  are  three  statesmen  who  each 
subsequently  became  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  one,  Col.  Johnson,  Vice-President.  All  gave  ardent 
support  to  the  doctrine  of  protection  as  the  great  essen- 
tial to  our  industrial  and  commercial  prosperity. 

In  the  vote  on  the  passage  of  the  bill  in  the  House, 
New  England  cast  fifteen  yeas,  twenty  nays;  the  Mid- 
dle States,  sixty  yeas,  fifteen  nays ;  the  South,  fourteen 
yeas,  sixty-four  nays;  and  the  new  States  of  the  West, 
Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  eighteen  yeas,  but  not  a 
solitary  negative  vote.  Kentucky,  also,  under  the  lead- 
ership of  Mr.  Clay,  was  a  unit  in  its  favor. 

It  was  in  the  course  of  this  debate  that  Mr.  Clay 
delivered  his  celebrated  speech   of  March    31,  1824, 
^    which  is  to  this  day  a  strong  and  effective  argument 
for  the  protective  policy.      In  discussing  the  relative 
advantages  of  foreign  and  domestic  trade,  he  said : 

"The  greatest  want  of  civilized  society  is  a  market 
for  the  sale  and  exchange  of  the  surplus  of  the  pro- 
duce of  the  labor  of  its  members.  This  may  exist  at 
home  or  abroad,  or  both,  but  it  must  exist  somewhere 
if  society  prospers ;  and  wherever  it  does  exist  it  should 
be  competent  to  the  absorption  of  the  entire  surplus  of 
production.  It  is  most  desirable  that  there  should  be 
both  a  home  and  a  foreign  market.  But,  with  respect 
to  their  relative  superiority,  I  can  not  entertain  a  doubt. 
The  home  market  is  first  in  order  and  paramount  in 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  5 

importance.  The  object  of  the  bill  under  consideration 
is  to  create  this  home  market,  and  to  lay  the  foundations 
of  a  genuine  American  policy.  The  creation  of  a  home 
market  is  not  only  necessary  to  procure  for  our  agricul- 
ture a  just  reward  for  its  labors,  but  it  is  indispensable 
to  obtain  a  supply  of  our  necessary  wants.  If  we  can 
not  sell,  we  can  not  buy.  The  sole  object  of  the  tariff 
is  to  tax  the  produce  of  foreign  industry  with  a  view  to 
promoting  American  industry." 

The  effects  of  this  legislation  were  immediate  and 
gratifying,  realizing  the  predictions  of  its  friends  and 
promoters.  Every  class  felt  the  revival  of  business  and 
the  general  prosperity ;  the  factory,  the  farm,  our  ship- 
ping, mercantile,  commercial,  and  mining  interests  all 
enjoyed  the  change.  Some  years  later  Mr.  Clay  him- 
self bore  eloquent  testimony  to  the  improved  conditions 
of  the  country.  In  his  memorable  speech  in  the  Senate 
on  February  2,  1832,  he  said : 

"If  I  were  to  select  any  term  of  seven  years  since 
the  adoption  of  our  present  Constitution  which  exhibi- 
ted a  scene  of  the  most  undisputed  dismay  and  desola- 
tion, it  would  be  exactly  that  term  of  seven  years 
which  immediately  preceded  the  establishment  of  the 

tariff  of  1824 If  the  term  of  seven  years  were 

to  be  selected  of  the  greatest  prosperity  which  the 
people  have  enjoyed,  it  would  be  exactly  that  period  of 
seven  years  which  immediately  followed  the  passage 
of  the  tariff  of  1824." 


With  the  act  of  1828,  still  further  increasing  the 
duties,  Mr.  Clay  had  no  immediate  part,  as  he  was  then 
Secretary  of  State.  In  the  earlier  tariff  debates  Mr. 
Calhoun  had  appeared  as  a  protectionist,  and  Mr.  Web- 


6  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

ster  as  his  opponent.  In  1824  their  positions  were 
exactly  reversed,  and  in  1828  Mr.  Webster  again 
favored  an  increase  of  duties.  Most  of  the  distin- 
guished Democrats  already  mentioned  were  supporters 
of  the  law  of  1828,  and  to  their  aid  that  great  leader 
Silas  "Wright,  of  New  York,  contributed  the  weight  of 
his  splendid  abilities.  Five  gentlemen  who  sub- 
sequently became  President  were  recorded  on  the  pas- 
sage of  the  act — Van  Buren,  William  Henry  Harrison 
and  Buchanan  for,  and  Tyler  and  Polk  against  it. 
Never  in  any  subsequent  period  of  our  history  have  the 
duties  been  higher,  or  the  protective  principle  more 
rigidly  sustained. 

The  condition  of  the  National  finances  was  emi- 
nently satisfactory ;  the  public  debt  was  being  rapidly 
reduced,  and  the  Treasury  contained  a  surplus.  Under 
these  conditions,  Mr.  Clay,  again  in  the  Senate,  in  May, 
fl830,  offered  a  resolution  "for  the  immediate  abolition 
of  all  duties  on  all  articles  not  coming  into  competition 
with  similar  articles  made  or  produced  in  the  United 
States,  except  those  on  wines  and  silks,  which  ought  to 
be  reduced."  This  was  opposed  by  Mr.  Hayne,  of 
South  Carolina,  and  others,  who  proposed  instead  a  re- 
duction of  all  duties,  but  after  much  discussion  the 
acts  of  May  20  and  May  29,  1830, — three  in  all — 
were  passed.  The  first  reduced  the  imports  on  cocoa, 
tea  and  coffee.  The  other  two,  passed  May  29th,  pro- 
vided, respectively,  for  a  decrease  in  the  duty  on 
molasses,  with  a  drawback  on  spirits,  and  for  a  reduc- 
tion of  the  duty  on  salt. 

No  general  reduction,  however,  was  made  until  two 
years  later.  Then  President  Jackson  recommended  a 


OF  HENEY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  7 

revision  of  the  tariff,  and  on  January  9,  1832,  Mr.  Clay 
renewed  his  resolution  for  a  reduction  of  duties  on  non- 
competing  articles.  The  opposition  demanded  the 
change  of  rates  to  a  revenue  standard.  This  Mr.  Clay 
earnestly  opposed.  In  his  great  speech  of  February 
2,  1832,  he  said: 

"The  fall  of  the  protective  policy  would  be  pro- 
ductive of  consequences  calamitous  indeed.  When  I 
look  to  the  variety  of  the  interests  involved,  to  the 
number  of  individuals  interested,  the  amount  of  capital 
invested,  the  value  of  buildings  erected,  and  the  whole 
arrangement  of  the  business  for  the  prosecution  of  the 
various  branches  of  the  manufacturing  arts  which  have 
sprung  up  under  the  fostering  care  of  this  Government, 
I  can  not  contemplate  any  evil  equal  to  the  sudden 
overthrow  of  all  these  interests.  History  can  produce 
no  parallel  to  the  extent  of  mischief  which  would  be 
produced  by  such  a  disaster.  The  repeal  of  the  edict 
of  Nantes  itself  was  nothing  in  comparison  with  it. 
That  condemned  and  brought  to  ruin  a  great  number 
of  persons;  the  most  respectable  portion  of  the  popu- 
lation of  France  were  condemned  to  exile  and  ruin  by 
that  measure.  But,  in  my  opinion,  the  sudden  repeal 
of  the  tariff  policy  would  bring  ruin  and  destruction 
on  the  whole  population  of  this  country.  There  is  no 
evil,  in  my  opinion,  equal  to  the  consequences  which 
would  result  from,  such  a  catastrophe." 

In*  the  same  debate  he  expressed  what  was  to  him 
always  a  firm  conviction  when  he  declared : 

"  Gentlemen  deceive  themselves ;  it  is  not  free  trade 
that  they  are  recommending  to  our  acceptance.  It  is 
in  effect  the  British  or  colonial  system  that  we  are  in- 


8  THE  TAKIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

vited  to  adopt,  and  if  this  policy  prevail,  it  will  lead, 
substantially,  to  the  re-colonization  of  these  States, 
under  the  commercial  dominion  of  Great  Britain." 

The  result  of  the  contention  was  the  revision  of  the 
tariff  on  the  lines  proposed  by  Mr.  Clay,  as  provided  in 
the  act  of  July  14,  1832.  The  position  of  Mr.  Clay 
was  identical  with  that  of  ex-President  John  Quincy 
Adams,  who,  on  May  22d,  submitted  a  report  to  the 
House  from  the  Committee  on  Manufactures,  ably  sus- 
taining the  protective  policy.  In  the  course  of  his 
argument,  Mr.  Adams  said : 

"Under  that  system  of  policy  (the  protective)  the 
Nation  has  risen  from  a  depth  of  weakness,  imbecility, 
and  distress  to  an  eminence  of  prosperity  unexampled 
in  the  annals  of  the  world.  It  was  by  counter  legisla- 
tion to  the  regulations  of  foreign  nations  that  the  first 
operations  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
were  felt  by  the  people ;  felt  in  the  encouragement  and 
protection  given  to  their  commerce ;  felt  in  the  fulfill- 
ment of  the  public  engagements  to  the  creditors  of  the 
Nation;  felt  in  the  gradual  discharge  of  the  debt  of 
gratitude  due  to  the  warriors  of  the  Revolution ;  felt 
in  the  rapid  increase  of  our  population,  in  the  con- 
stantly and  profitably  occupied  industry  of  the  people, 
in  the  consideration  and  respect  of  foreign  nations  for 
our  character,  in  the  comfort  and  well-being  and  happi- 
ness of  the  community ;  felt  in  every  nerve  and  sinew, 
in  every  vein  and  artery  of  the  body  politic."  • 

South  Carolina  assumed  to  be  greatly  offended  that  the 
reduction  of  duties  was  not  much  larger,  and  proceeded 
to  place  herself  in  an  attitude  of  hostility  to  the  General 
Government  by  promptly  passing  a  law,  commonly 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  9 

known  as  the  "Ordinance  of  Nullification,"  declaring 
that  the  new  tariff  was  unconstitutional  and  void,  and 
should  not  be  collected  in  that  State.  Proclamation 
was  made,  by  the  authority  of  the  Legislature,  that  if 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  should  in  any 
way  attempt  to  enforce  the  tariff  laws  by  means  of  its 
Army  and  Navy,  then  "  South  Carolina  will  no  longer 
consider  herself  a  member  of  the  Federal  Union." 

The  cause  of  her  advocacy  of  nullification  and  seces- 
sion, however,  as  Col.  Benton  observes  in  his  "  Thirty 
Years'  View  "  was  really  "  not  the  tariff  at  all,  but  the 
institution  of  human  slavery."  Mr.  Calhoun  realized 
that  the  policy  of  protection  to  home  industry  was  in- 
imical, to  the  employment  of  cheap  or  enslaved  labor. 

President  Jackson  met  the  issue  boldly,  and  in  Feb- 
rury,  1833,  secured  the  passage  of  what  was  designated 
at  the  time  as  "  the  Force  Bill,"  by  which  he  would  have 
undoubtedly  secured  the  collection  of  the  revenues  in 
South  Carolina,  had  the  nullification  movement  not  been 
promptly  abandoned.  In  his  efforts  for  peace  and  the 
Union,  however,  Mr.  Clay  had  meanwhile  been  active  in 
the  attempt  to  secure  the  passage  of  a  bill,  which,  while 
it  would  provide  a  gradual  reduction  of  duties,  would 
still  preserve  intact  the  protective  system.  His  ideas 
were  embodied  in  the  bill  he  introduced  in  the  Senate 
on  February  12,  1833,  (which  became  a  law  in  two 
weeks,  or  on  February  26th,)  that  is  known  as  one  of 
the  three  great  "  Compromises  "  with  which  his  name 
and  fame  are  so  inseparably  connected. 

The  friends  of  Jackson,  Clay  and  Calhoun  were  for 
once  united  in  support  of  the  same  measure,  and  it 
passed  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  twenty-nine  to  sixteen. 


10  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS' 

Still  some  of  the  strong  men  of  that  body,  Webster, 
Benton,  the  venerable  Samuel  Smith,  of  Maryland,  and 
Mahlon  Dickerson,  of  New  Jersey,  voted  against  it.  A 
bill  to  reduce  the  tariff  had  previously  passed  the  House 
but  Mr.  Clay's  bill  was  accepted  by  it  as  an  amendment 
and  passed  that  body  immediately  by  a  vote  of  119  to 
85.  Four  of  the  six  New  England  States,  and  Dela- 
ware, New  Jersey,  and  Missouri  voted  solidly  against  it 
and  all  the  Southern  members  but  two  for  it. 

Taking  the  tariff  of  1832  as  the  basis,  the  "Clay  Com- 
promise "  provided  for  an  ultimate  reduction  of  duties 
on  all  imports  to  a  uniform  level  of  twenty  per  cent,  ad 
valorem.  One  tenth  of  the  excess  above  twenty 
per  cent  was  to  be  taken  off  on  January  1,  1834  ; 
one  tenth  on  January  1,  1836 ;  one  tenth  on  January 
1,  1838 ;  one  tenth  on  January  1,  1840 ;  three  tenths 
on  January  1,  1842,  and  the  remaining  three  tenths 
on  July  1,  1842.  The  "compromise"  consisted  in 
the  swift  reduction  of  duties  after  January  1,  1842,  as  a 
concession  to  the  "  Nullifiers, "  and  the  slow  and  gradual 
reduction  prior  thereto  as  a  concession  to  the  protec- 
tionists. 

The  new  law  calmed  the  excitement  in  the  South,  but 
its  effects  were  otherwise  unhappy  and  disastrous.  More 
than  any  other  one  cause  it  is  generally  charged  that 

\it  occasioned  the  great  financial  crisis  of  1837,  a  sad 
period  of  gloom  and  disaster  almost  equal  to  that  which 
had  preceded  the  enactment  of  the  tariff  of  1824. 

Mr.  Clay  believed  that  experience  would,  as  it  did, 
speedily  teach  the  people  a  just  appreciation  of  the  ad 
vantages  of  protection  to  home  industry.  He  believed 
that  "  the  American  system  would  soon  become  firmly 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  11 

planted  in  the  bosoms  and  affections  of  the  people.'' 
He  had  in  no  sense  forsaken  his  creed  ;  he  simply  sought 
to  save  the  protective  principle  from  disuse  and  aban- 
donment. Never  were  the  policy  or  opinions  of  any 
statesman  more  completely  vindicated. 

Within  five  years  a  panic  swept  over  the  country  that 
almost  beggars  description  for  its  severity  and  distress. 
Not  only  were  manufactures  prostrated,  but  commerce, 
navigation,  mining,  and  especially  agriculture,  shared 
in  the  general  ruin.  The.scenes  Clay  and  Benton  had 
so  vividly  portrayed  in  1824  were  repeated,  only  as  de- 
velopment had  increased,  the  losses  now  appeared  still 
more  frightful.  Mortgages  were  foreclosed  and  forced 
sales  made  in  every  direction ;  thousands  of  able-bodied 
men  were  out  of  work,  or  toiling  at  not  more  than 
twenty-five  cents  per  day ;  while  other  thousands,  un- 
able to  obtain  employment  at  any  price,  with  their 
wives  and  children,  were  obliged  to  appeal  for  charity, 
and  rely  upon  the  free  soup-houses,  which  were  estab- 
lished in  every  city,  for  the  only  food  they  could  procure. 

Sophistry  can  not  withstand  the  piercing  gaze  of 
public  opinion.  Theories  will  not  avail  against  facts. 
False  leaders  appealed  in  vain,  but  the  people  attributed 
their  distress  in  great  part  to  the  existing  tariff,  and 
when  opportunity  again  came,  as  it  did  in  the  National 
election  of  1840,  they  overthrew  and  drove  from  power, 
in  every  branch  of  the  Government,  the  party  they 
held  responsible  for  it,  by  most  surprising  majorities. 

As  a  result  of  this  great  revolution,  and  in  obedience 
to  the  popular -will,  President  Tyler,  although  himself  a 
free-trader,  felt  constrained,  on  August  30,  1842,  to 
give  his  assent  to  another  great  protective  tariff  law. 


12  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DATS 

The  history  of  its  passage  is  peculiarly  interesting. 

The  Twenty-seventh  Congress  was  Whig  in  both 
branches  by  a  majority  of  thirty-one  on  joint  ballot — 
the  Senate,  Whigs  28,  Democrats  22  ;  and  the  House^ 
Whigs  133,  Democrats  108.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
session,  in  December,  1841,  Millard  Fillmore,  the  Whig 
leader  of  the  House,  moved  the  reference  of  so  much  of 
the  President's  message  as  related  to  the  tariff  to  the 
Committee  on  Manufactures,  the  customary  and  proper 
reference,  to  the  Committee  which  had  framed  all  the 
tariff  bills  of  our  earlier  Congresses. 

Charles  G.  Atherton,  of  New  Hampshire,  the  leader 
of  the  Democratic  side,  moved  as  a  substitute  to  refer  it 
to  the  Committee  on  Way  and  Means.  His  purpose 
thereby,  as  he  fully  avowed  in  debate,  was  that  "  the 
revision  of  duties  should  be  made  with  exclusive  refer- 
ence to  the  raising  of  revenue,  and  that  the  pro- 
tection of  our  industrial  interests  should  not  be  con- 
sidered at  all."  Even  without  the  final  reduction  under 
the  Compromise  tariff  of  1833,  which  was  to  occur  on 
July  1,  1842,  the  revenue  was  not  sufficient  for  the 
support  of  the  Government,  and  Mr.  Clay  had  insisted  in 
the  Senate  that  the  duties  of  necessity  must  be  raised  for 
that  object  alone  to  at  least  thirty  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

Mr.  Atherton's  motion  was  lost.  Seventy-one  Demo- 
crats and  twenty-four  Southern  Whigs  voted  in  the 
affirmative,  but  they  were  overruled  by  the  negative 
votes  of  ninety  Whigs  and  fourteen  Democrats — the 
latter  all  from  Pennsylvania  but  three.  The  subject 
was  then  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Manufactures, 
by  whom  a  bill  and  report  were  promptly  presented. 
Hon.  Walter  Forward,  of  Pennsylvania,  Secretary  of  the 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  13 

Treasury,  also  made  an  elaborate  report,  and  submitted 
a  bill  to  Congress,  and  a  third  bill  and  report  were  sub- 
sequently offered  by  the  Senate  Committee  on  Manu- 
factures. 

The  bills  were  in  accord  in  recognizing  the  principle 
of  protection  but  differed  in  details.  The  best  features 
of  all  three  were  embodied  in  a  bill  that  passed  the 
House  on  July  16th,  by  the  vote  116  to  112.  William 
Parmenter,  of  Massachusetts,  was  the  only  Democrat 
who  voted  in  the  affirmative.  Fourteen  Whigs  and 
ninety-eight  Democrats  voted  in  the  negative. 

The  supporters  of  the  bill  included  John  Quincy 
Adams,  William  Pitt  Fessenden,  Francis  Granger, 
William  Cost  Johnson,  William  L.  Goggin,  Kenneth 
Rayner,  of  North  Carolina,  Nathaniel  G.  Pendleton  and 
Jeremiah  Morrow,  of  Ohio,  Richard  W.  Thompson  and 
Henry  S.  Lane,  of  Indiana,  Thomas  F.  Marshall,  of 
Kentucky,  Zadoc  Casey,  of  Illinois,  and  Jacob  M. 
Howard,  of  Michigan.  It  passed  the  Senate  on  August 
5th — yeas  twenty-five,  all  Whigs;  nays  twenty-three, 
all  Democrats  but  three. 

To  the  very  general  regret  and  surprise,  President 
Tyler  vetoed  the  bill,  because  "  it  did  not  suspend  the 
distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public 
lands  among  the  several  States  of  the  Union,"  which 
had  been  provided  by  an  act  passed  in  September, 
1841,  that  he  himself  had  signed.  Congress  received 
his  message  with  great  indignation  and  the  House 
attempted  to  pass  the  bill  over  his  veto,  but  this  failed 
for  want  of  the  required  two-thirds  vote. 

Another  but  substantially  the  same  bill  was  passed 
by  both  branches  of  Congress  within  the  next  fortnight 


14  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

and  this,  too,  was  vetoed  by  Mr.  Tyler.  His  second 
veto  message,  on  motion  of  ex-President  Adams,  was 
referred  to  a  special  Committee  of  Thirteen,  of  which 
Mr.  Adams  became  Chairman,  and  in  such  capacity 
wrote  a  scathing  report  against  what  he  characterized 
as  the  President's  arbitrary  and  inconsistent  actions. 
He  declared  that  Mr.  Tyler  ought  to  be  impeached,  and 
this  was  the  general  opinion  of  the  Whigs  of  the 
country,  both  in  and  out  of  Congress,  although  they 
realized  that  such  a  thing  was  impossible. 

This  report  so  irritated  the  President  that  he  sent  a 
protest  to  the  House  in  which  he  sought  apparently  to 
interfere  with  its  legitimate  functions  and  powers. 
John  Minor  Botts,  of  Virginia,  thereupon  offered  the 
same  resolution*  which  the  Senate  had  adopted  in 
1834  (and  for  which  Mr.  Tyler  had  himself  voted),  in 
censuring  President  Jackson  for  a  somewhat  similar 
action.  This  was  adopted  by  a  strictly  party-vote — 
yeas  (Whigs),  87 ;  nays  (Democrats),  46. 

A  provisional  tariff  bill,  to  supply  revenue  until 
something  more  satisfactory  could  be  agreed  upon,  was 
next  attempted.  In  the  discussion  of  this  bill  in  the 
House,  on  August  22d,  Hon.  Thomas  T.  McKennan, 
of  Pennsylvania,  moved  to  strike  out  all  after  the 
enacting  clause,  and  insert  the  bill  which  had  been  twice 

*  The  student  of  history  will  recall  that  this  was  the  Senate  resolution 
offered  by  Mr.  Clay  in  his  controversy  with  President  Jackson  about  the 
removal  of  the  Government  deposits  from  the  United  States  Bank  at 
Philadelphia.  It  was  adopted  by  the  Senate,  on  March  28,  1834,  by  a  vote 
of  twenty -six  to  twenty,  and  read  as  follows  : 

Resolved,  That  the  President,  in  the  late  executive  proceedings  in  relation 
to  the  public  revenue,  has  assumed  upon  himself  authority  and  power  not 
conferred  by  the  Constitution  and  laws,  but  in  derogation  of  both. 

It  was  for  this  resolution  that  Mr.  Tyler,  then  a  Senator  from  Virginia, 
had  voted. 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  15 

vetoed  already,  omitting  the  section  regarding  the 
distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  land,  and 
the  clause  imposing  a  duty  of  twenty  per  cent,  ad 
valorem  on  tea  and  coffee.  He  was  a  new  member,  but 
so  great  was  his  ability  and  so  persuasive  his  eloquence, 
that  his  motion  prevailed  and  the  bill  passed  the  House 
by  the  close  vote,  yeas  105,  nays  103.  Of  the 
affirmative  votes,  eighty-five  were  Whigs,  and  twenty 
Democrats,  ten  of  the  latter  from  New  York,  nine  from 
Pennsylvania,  and  one  from"  Massachusetts.  Of  the 
negative  votes,  sixty-eight  were  Democrats,  and  thirty- 
five  Whigs;  some  of  whom,  although  staunch  protection- 
ists, would  not  surrender  their  convictions  as  to  the 
land  controversy  in  any  emergency. 
•  This  bill,  with  some  further  slight  modifications, 
passed  the  Senate,  on  August  27th,  by  the  bare  major- 
ity of  a  single  vote — yeas,  twenty-f our ;  nays,  twenty- 
three.  Twenty  Whigs  and  four  Democrats  (Kuel  Will- 
iams, of  Maine,  Silas  Wright,  of  New  York,  and  James 
Buchanan  and  Daniel  Sturgeon,  of  Pennsylvania) 
voted  in  the  affirmative,  and  fifteen  Democrats  and 
eight  Southern  Whigs  in  the  negative.  It  numbered 
among  its  supporters  George  Evans,  Richard  H.  Bayard, 
Rufus  Choate,  John  J.  Crittenden,  William  L.  Dayton, 
and  William  A.  Graham.  The  House  concurred  in  the 
Senate  amendments,  and,  to  the  general  surprise,  the 
bill  was  promptly  approved  by  the  President. 

The  framers  of  the  new  law  were  evidently  im- 
pressed with  the  truth  of  Mr.  Clay's  wise  maxim  enun- 
ciated when  referring  in  former  years  to  ad  valorem 
duties.  "  Let  me  fix  the  value  of  foreign  merchandise," 
said  he,  "  and  I  do  not  care  what  your  duty  is." 


16  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 


Specific  duties  were  substituted  for  ad  valorem  as  far  as 
possible  throughout  the  whole  list.  It  proved  a  wise 
and  beneficent  measure,  even  more  strongly  protective 
than  its  friends  at  first  had  thought  it  would  be.  During 
the  four  years  it  was  in  operation  it  raised  the  country 
from  the  depths  of  financial  depression  and  distress  to  a 
condition  of  confidence  and  prosperity  such  as  it  had 
not  enjoyed  since  1832. 

So  widely  popular  was  the  new  law  that  in  the  Pres- 
idential campaign  of  1844,  the  Democrats  in  the  critical 
Northern  States  were  as  earnest  and  outspoken  advo- 
cates of  it,  and  the  doctrine  of  protection,  as  the  friends 
of  Mr.  Clay.  Their  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  Hon. 
James  K.  Polk,  of  Tennessee,  had  uniformly  voted 
Against  protective  measures  in  Congress,  but  on  the 
other  hand  Hon.  George  M.  Dallas,  of  Pennsylvania, 
the  Democratic  candidate  for  Vice-President,  had  as 
a  Representative  been  an  active  supporter  of  all  such 
bills.  It  was  this  fact,  more  than  any  other,  that  led 
to  his  nomination. 

Indeed,  in  the  exigencies  of  the  campaign,  Mr.  Polk 
himself  felt  constrained  to  write  his  friend,  Mr.  John 
K.  Kane,  of  Philadelphia,  on  June  19,  1844,  the  only 
avowal  of  political  principles  he  made  lt  for  the  public 
eye"  after  his  nomination.  In  this  letter  he  declared 
that  he  had  "  voted  for  the  tariff  of  1832,"  the  act  of 
all  others  most  offensive  to  South  Carolina,  and  desired 
to  "  afford  reasonable  incidental  protection  to  home  in- 
dustry "  in  keeping  with  "  the  policy  of  General  Jack- 
son on  this  subject."  "In  my  judgment,"  said  he,  "it 
is  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  extend,  as  far  as  it 
may  be  practicable  to  do  so,  by  its  revenue  laws,  and 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  17 

all  other  means  within  its  power,  fair  and  just  protec- 
tion to  all  the  great  interests  of  the  whole  Union,  em- 
bracing agriculture,  manufactures,  and  the  mechanic 
arts,  commerce  and  navigation." 

By  this  and  similar  assurances  the  fears  of  the  pro- 
tection wing  of  the  party  were  put  to  rest.  This  was 
true  in  Pennsylvania  especially,  then  "  the  pivotal  State  " 
of  the  Union,  for  there  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Dallas  and  Mr. 
Buchanan  were  successful  in  October,  and  the  prestige 
of  this  triumph  practically  insured  the  election  of  Mr. 
Polk.  It  was  so  successful  that  Mr.  Polk  not  only 
received  majorities  in  the  manufacturing  centers  of  New 
Jersey,  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  as  "  a  better  pro- 
tectionist than  Clay,"  but  the  planters  of  Alabama, 
Georgia  and  Mississippi  were  induced  to  support  him 
with  equal  unanimity  because  as  the  Democratic 
leaders  in  those  States  declared,  "  Polk  was,  and  always 
had  been,  the  consistent  and  uncompromising  enemy  of 
the  protective  policy." 

His  election  accomplished,  Mr.  Polk  called  into  his 
Cabinet,  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Hon.  Robert  J. 
Walker,  of  Mississippi,  a  zealous  free  trader,  who  was 
willing  to  go  to  any  extreme  in  support  of  his  theo- 
ries. As  Senator  he  had  opposed  the  law  of  1842,  and 
was  well  known  to  be  intent  upon  its  repeal. 

The  Twenty-ninth  Congress,  elected  in  1844,  was 
Democratic  in  both  branches,  so  that  the  Administra- 
tion could  reasonably  expect  to  direct  its  fiscal  legisla- 
tion. Mr.  Walker  at  once  assailed  the  protective  law 
"  given  to  the  country  by  a  Whig  Congress  "  in  terms 
of  great  severity.  He  submitted  a  report  upon  the 
tariff  in  which  he  arraigned  our  manufacturers  as  but 


18  THE  TAKIFF  *N  THE  DAYS 

little  better  than  public  conspirators,  guilty  of  both 
deceit  and  extortion.  His  report  was  hailed  with  de- 
light in  England,  but  found  little  favor  at  home. 

Kichard  Cobden  declared  that  "he  had  never  read  a 
better  digest  of  the  arguments  in  favor  of  free  trade 
than  that  put  forth  by  Mr.  Secretary  Walker  and  ad- 
dressed to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States."  He 
commended  Mr.  Folk's  annual  message  of  December, 
1845,  also,  and  "congratulated  his  (British)  associates 
that  both  President  Polk  and  Mr.  Secretary  Walker 
had  taken  the  task  out  of  our  hands  of  lecturing  to  the 
people  of  America  upon  the  subject  of  free  trade." 
Indeed,  this  was  the  general  opinion  of  English  leaders, 
so  freely  declared  that  the  House  of  Lords  ordered  the 
report  of  Secretary  Walker  to  be  printed  and  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  kingdom. 

Encouraged  and  supported  by  the  President,  Mr. 
Walker  at  length  secured  not  only  the  repeal  of  "the 
odious  Whig  law,"  but  the  enactment  of  a  bill  meet- 
ing his  own  views,  then  and  since  commonly  known 
as  "the  Walker  tariff."  This  was  not  done,  however, 
without  disagreement  in  the  Cabinet,  heated  contests 
in  Congress,  and  much  dissatisfaction  among  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  Northern  Democracy. 

The  vote  in  the  House,  on  the  passage  of  the  bill, 
July  3,  1846,  resulted — yeas,  114;  nays,  93.  Among 
those  voting  in  the  negative  were  twenty  members  from 
the  South,  including  such  Whig  leaders  as  Garrett 
Davis,  of  Kentucky ;  Meredith  P.  Gentry,  of  Tennessee ; 
James  Graham,  of  North  Carolina;  John  S.  Pendleton, 
of  Virginia;  and  Robert  Toombs  and  Alexander  H. 
Stephens,  of  Georgia.  These  men  joined  heartily  with 


OF  HENKY  C?AY  AND  SINCE.  19 

such  prominent  leaders  of  the  North  as  John  Quincy 
Adams,  George  Ashmun  and  Robert  C.  Winthrop, 
of  Massachusetts ;  Charles  J.  Ingersoll  and  James  Black, 
of  Pennsylvania;  Jacob  Collamer,  of  Vermont;  Caleb 
B.  Smith,  of  Indiana ;  Washington  Hunt,  of  New  York ; 
and  Columbus  Delano,  Robert  C.  Schenck  and  Joshua 
R.  Giddings,  of  Ohio,  in  every  effort  to  retard  or 
defeat  the  bill. 

In  the  Senate,  the  contest  was  still  more  stubborn 
and  uncertain,  and  is  a  familiar  and  memorable  inci- 
dent in  the  annals  of  American  politics.  The  body 
was  evenly  divided  upon  it  and  the  Adminstration 
prevailed  in  the  end  only  through  the  action  of  Vice- 
President  Dallas,  who,  contrary  to  his  own  oft-ex- 
pressed convictions  and  life-long  affiliations,  gave  the 
casting  vote  in  favor  of  the  passage  of  the  bill. 

The  test  vote  was  taken  on  July  28th,  twenty-seven 
Senators  voting  for  the  bill,  and  twenty-seven  against  / 
it.  Of  those  voting  in  the  affirmative,  seventeen  were  / 
from  the  slave-holding  States  and  ten  from  the  free,  all 
Democrats.  Of  those  voting  against  the  bill  eleven 
were  from  the  South,  and  sixteen  from  the  North,  all 
Whigs  but  three — John  M.  Niles,  of  Connecticut,  and 
Simon  Cameron  and  Daniel  Sturgeon,  of  Pennsylvania. 
Despite  the  attempts  to  divide  the  Whigs  on  sectional 
lines,  some  of  the  strongest  leaders  of  the  South  stood 
side  by  side  with  Webster,  Corwin,  Evans,  Niles  and 
Cameron  in  upholding  the  cause  of  protection.  Crit- 
tenden,  of  Kentucky,  Berrien,  of  Georgia,  the  Claytons, 
of  Delaware,  Mangum,  of  North  Carolina,  and  Reverdy 
Johnson,  of  Maryland,  eloquently  sustained  the  policy 
of  their  party  and  good  of  the  country.  President  Polk 


20  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

was  quick  to  approve  the  law,  and  it  went  into  effect 
August  30,  1846. 

^jCj  By  the  new  law  the  duties  were  for  the  first  time  ex- 
clusively ad  valorem.  On  articles  where  the  protective 
principle  had  directly  applied  under  the  old  law  the 
duties  averaged  about  twenty-four  per  cent.  It  em- 
braced nine  schedules,  under  the  headings  A  to  I,  respect- 
ively. The  first  schedule,  spirits,  bore  a  duty  of  one  hun- 
dred per  cent.;  the  second,  tobacco,  spices,  wines,  pre- 
served fruits  and  meats,  forty  per  cent.;  the  third,  rated  at 
thirty  per  cent,  carpets,  cotton,  silk,  linen,  wool,  glass, 
leather,  sugar,  iron,  and  minor  articles ;  the  next  four 
fixed  rates  at  twenty-five,  twenty,  fifteen,  ten,  and  five 
per  cent,  respectively  upon  the  bulk  of  the  merchandise 
then  imported  to  this  country ;  the  remaining  schedule 
was  devoted  to  an  enlarged  free  list.  The  average 
duties  under  the  law,  on  the  importations  of  1847,  were 
twenty-seven  and  seven-tenths  per  cent.;  but  in  1856 
they  fell  to  twenty-one  and  sixty-eight-hundreths. 

It  was  the  boast  of  the  author  of  this  law,  and  it  is  to 
this  day  claimed   by   his  adherents,  that  the  so-called 
Walker  tariff  "  remained  unchanged  for  eleven  years, 
during  which  time  the  country  enjoyed  great  prosperity; 
and  that  it  was  then  voluntarily  amended  by  its  friends 
/    only  in  the   direction   of   their   well   established  free- 
t     trade  policy."     While  it  is  a  fact  that  the  law  was   not 
amended  until  1857,  it  is  a  matter  of  dispute  whether  it 
brought  "prosperity  to  the  country,"  and  it  is  not  true 
I      that  the  people  ever  gave  it  their  express  approval. 

Indeed,  in  the  Congressional  elections  of  1846,  when 
the  country  was  engaged  in  a  foreign  war  and  the 
patriotic  impulses  of  the  people  would  naturally  have 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  21 

led  them  to  sustain  the  Administration,  so  great  was  the 
indignation  over  the  new  tariff,  that  a  Democratic 
majority  of  sixty-two  in  the  House  was  changed  to  a 
Whig  majority  of  three — a  clear  Whig  gain  of  sixty-five 
in  a  total  membership  of  227.  Seldom  since  has 
the  country  witnessed  so  striking  a  condemnation  of 
any  measure  by  public  opinion. 

Again,  in  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1848,  it  was 
due  to  the  tariff  policy  of  the  Administration  that  Penn- 
sylvania gave  her  electoral  vote  to  Taylor  instead  of 
Cass,  thereby  defeating  the  latter.  The  State  had  been 
Democratic  since  the  days  of  Jefferson ;  it  had  sustained 
Jackson ;  it  had  voted  for  Van  Buren,  in  1836  ;  for  Polk, 
in  1844  ;  and,  in  1848,  no  divisions  were  apparent  within 
the  party  on  the  question  of  slavery.  Yet  Taylor  carried 
the  State  over  both  Cass  and  Van  Buren  by  about  2,300 
votes,  and  over  Cass  alone  by  13,500.  Had  Cass  re- 
ceived the  electoral  vote  of  Pennsylvania,  despite  the 
loss  of  New  York,  he  would  have  been  elected.  In  that 
State,  at  least,  the  people  did  not  endorse,  or  at  all  ap- 
prove, of  "  the  noble  impulse  given  to  the  cause  of  free 
trade,  by  the  repeal  of  the  tariff  of  1842,  "  commended 
by  the  Democratic  National  platform. 

During  the  National  campaigns  of  1852  and  1856,  and 
in  the  Congressional  elections  of  1850,  1854,  and  1858, 
the  constant  and  exciting  contentions  over  slavery  en- 
grossed public  attention.  No  other  political  issue  was 
discussed,  nor  was  the  condition  of  the  business  affairs 
of  the  country  from  1847  to  1856  generally  such  as  to 
especially  excite  partisan  differences.  Anticipating  for 
the  moment  the  passage  of  the  law  of  1857,  let  us  con- 
sider the  claim  of  the  advocates  of  free  trade  that  this 


22  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

country  enjoyed  "  unexampled,"  or  "  great  and  excep- 
tional prosperity,  from  1847  to  1861,"  the  period  when 
the  tariff -for -revenue -only  policy  held  sway  in  the 
country. 

Simultaneous  with  President  Folk's  approval  of  the 
Walker  bill  came  the  declaration  of  war  with  Mexico. 
This  led  to  the  employment  of  an  army  of  100,000 
men,  and  the  outlay  of  more  than  $150,000,000  among 
the  people  for  its  support,  above  the  ordinary  expendi- 
tures of  the  Government,  during  the  next  two  years. 

Before  this  stimulus  to  our  manufactures  and  trade 
began  to  subside,  a  terrible  famine  occurred  in  Ireland. 
This  caused  an  unprecedented  demand  for  our  bread- 
stuffs  and  brought  to  the  United  States  extraordinary 
shipments  of  specie.  Then  followed  the  European  rev- 
olutions of  1848,  by  which  the  trade  and  manufactures 
of  the  entire  continent  were  disturbed,  and  in  some  dis- 
tricts suspended.  Importations  to  the  United  States 
were  stopped,  and  for  the  time  being  our  manufacturers 
enjoyed  both  the  home  market  and  a  profitable  foreign 
trade. 

Next  came  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California,  carry- 
ing to  our  Western  shores  the  surplus  population  of  our 
manufacturing  and  agricultural  districts,  and  sending 
back  to  the  East  abundant  streams  of  the  precious 
metals.  Such  a  condition  was  more  than  accidental — 
it  was  in  the  highest  degree  fortunate  and  providential. 

During  the  six  years  following  1848  it  drew  to  the 
Pacific  Slope  from  the  older  States  a  splendid  popula- 
tion of  enterprising  and  vigorous  citizens,  and  added  to 
the  wealth  of  the  world  more  than  $640,000,000,  in  the 
output  of  gold  alone.  With  such  advantages  we 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  23 

should  have  become  not  only  immensely  wealthy,  but 
amply  able  to  meet  every  demand  of  the  Government 
without  borrowing  a  dollar  for  years  to  come  had  we 
possessed  a  wise  fiscal  policy. 

But  in  1854  the  output  of  gold  showed  signs  of 
decline  and  failure,  and  then,  by  another  of  the 
remarkable  incidents  of  the  time  influencing  our  busi- 
ness conditions,  the  Crimean  war  broke  out — a  war 
between  England,  France,  and  Russia,  three  of  the 
leading  powers  of  Europe  and  the  world.  "  Con- 
fusion worse  confounded"  reigned  in  the  industrial 
circles  of  Europe  for  the  next  two-and-a-half  years,  and 
during  this  period  the  United  States  enjoyed  the  richest 
harvest  she  had  ever  before  reaped  from  foreign  lands. 
Our  country  could  hardly  have  been  depressed  under 
such  remarkable  conditions.  But  when  peace  came  to 
Europe,  manufacturing  was  resumed  in  England  and 
France  with  greater  energy  and  with  more  alluring 
prospects  for  trade  in  America  than  had  ever  before 
been  known. 

Then^  naturally,  and    inevitably,   with    our   vastly     * 
increased    importations,   and    consequent    dependence 
upon  foreign  factories,  our  whole  business  situation  was    / 
swiftly  changed   from   apparent  prosperity  to  actual  / 
distress.     The  tariff-for-revenue-only   policy   rested   at 
length   solely  upon    its    own    merits.      We  were   as   \ 
a  nation  pursuing  the  hazardous  experiment  of  spend-   \\ 
ing  abroad    the    money    we    should    have    kept    at 
home.     The  gold  of  California,  the  largest  product  ofj/ 
that  precious  metal  so  far  discovered  in  any  country, 
was  speedily  drained  by  Europe.     Within  a  year  after 
the   close   of   the  Crimean   war,  this   country  was  dis- 


24  THE  TAEIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

tressed  and  humiliated  by  the  only  financial  panic  it 
had  experienced  for  twenty  years,  since  the  adoption  of 
a  somewhat  similar  tariff  policy  to  that  it  was  then 
pursuing. 

After  the  Democratic  victory  in  the  Presidential 
campaign  of  1856,  the  administration  of  Mr.  Pierce, 
under  the  influence  of  Secretaries  James  Guthrie,  of 
Kentucky,  and  Jefferson  Davis,  of  Mississippi,  made 
haste  to  secure  the  passage  of  an  act  to  still  further 
reduce  existing  duties.  Our  importations  were  already 
unprecedentedly  large,  but  it  was  claimed  that  the 
revenues  were  more  than  the  Government  required,  or 
could  properly  apply  in  its  legitimate  expenditures, 
including  the  payment  of  the  National  debt.  Accord- 
ingly the  law  of  March  3, 1857,  was  enacted.  It  passed 
the  House  by  a  vote  oTTTS  to  72.  and  met  with  but 
little  opposition  in  the  Senate.  The  members  from  the 
Western  States  were  the  most  conspicuous  of  those 
from  any  section  in  speaking  and  voting  against  it. 
Questions  of  "popular  sovereignity "  and  "free  soil 
for  free  men "  were  absorbing  the  public  mind  both 
in  and  out  of  Congress.  Party  lines  were  not 
drawn,  nor  was  any  general  apprehension  manifested 
as  to  the  bad  policy  of  the  pending  measure.  The 
new  duties  averaged  about  nineteen  per  cent,  ad 
valorem,  with  abundant  loopholes  for  undervaluation 
and  fraud,  and  afforded  probably  less  protection  than 
those  of  any  other  tariff  law  in  our  history. 
i>  The  immediate  effect  was  an  increase  in  importations, 
"I  and  a  heavy  drain  upon  the  specie  of  the  country, 
/  while  there  was  a  marked  reduction  in  the  exportation 
/  of  our  agricultural  products.  A  financial  crash  was 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  25 

inevitable,  and  it  fell  with  disastrous  force  upon  the  / 
country  in  the  fall  of  1857   within  six  months  after  the 
passage  of  the  new  law.     The  panic  soon  swept  over 
the   entire  Union,  prostrating   alike   our  agricultural, 
commercial,  mining,  and  manufacturing  interests. 

The  need  of  relief  everywhere  was  so  apparent  that 
President  Buchanan  in  his  first  annual  message,  on 
December  8,  1857,  felt  constrained  to  appeal  to  Con- 
gress to  do  all  in  its  power  "  to  increase  the  confidence 
of  the  manufacturing  interests  and  give  a  new  impulse 
to  business."  His  description  of  the  condition  of  the 
times  is  .so  striking  that  it  bears  frequent  repetition. 

"  In  the  midst  of  unsurpassed  plenty  in  all  the  pro- 
ductions and  elements  of  National  wealth,"  said  he,  "  we 
* 

find  our  manufactures  suspended,  our  public  works 
retarded,  our  private  enterprises  of  different  kinds 
abandoned,  and  thousands  of  useful  laborers  tlir 
out  of  employment  and  reduced  to  want."  Then  came 
the  admission,  which  has  always  been  made  when- 
ever the  free  trade  policy  was  adopted,  that  "  the  same 
causes  which  have  produced  pecuniary  distress  through- 
out the  country  have  so  greatly  reduced  the  amount  of 
imports  from  abroad  that  the  revenue  has  proved 
inadequate  to  meet  the  necessary  expenses  of  the 
Government." 

The  stagnation  of  business  and  paralysis  of  trade  and 
enterprise  continued  during  the  next  four  years,  with 
severe  and  widespread  distress,  almost  as  great  and  ex- 
hausting as  during  the  previous  low-tariff  financial  de- 
pressions of  1819-'24  and  1837-'42.  It  was  impossible 
to  repeal  the  new  law,  even  if  the  Administration  had 
attempted  it. 


26  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

In  this  period  of  fifteen  years,  from  1847  to  1861,  in- 
clusive, during  which  the  economic  theories  of  Mr. 
Walker  prevailed,  the  total  receipts  from  customs  were 
$708,107,973,  while  the  outlays  of  the  Government  were 
$807,133,078.  Consequently  the  expenditures  exceeded 
the  receipts  by  $99,025,105.  Thus  as  strictly  revenue 
measures  the  laws  of  1846  and  1857  were  both  un- 
satisfactory. During  the  eleven  years  of  the  contin- 
uance of  the  tariff  of  1846,  the  expenditures  of  the 
Government  exceeded  its  receipts  $21,790,909.  Of 
this  deficit,  $8,205,305  occurred  during  the  years  1855, 
1856,  and  1857;  so  that  when  the  act  of  1857  was 
passed,  it  should  have  been  apparent  that  while  the  ex- 
penditures were  constantly  increasing,  the  revenue  was 
steadily  diminishing.  During  the  three  years  named 
our  imports  of  merchandise  exceeded  our  exports  by 
nearly  $123,000,000,  while  our  exports  of  specie 
amounted  to  $132,500,000.  During  the  four  years  of 
the  operation  of  the  tariff  of  1857,  the  total  receipts 
from  customs  were  $184,125,000,  and  the  expenditures, 
$261,359,196.  Thus  the  expenditures  of  the  Govern- 
ment exceeded  its  receipts  $77,234,196,  and  the  new  law 
was  shown  to  be  even  more  inadequate  for  revenue 
purposes  than  that  of  1846. 

Unsupported  by  the  fortunate  events  which  had  for 
ten  years  given  us  the  appearance  of  great  prosperity, 
our  own  vast  product  of  gold,  and  the  benefits  accruing 
to  our  people  by  reason  of  a  great  foreign  war,  the 
system  did  not  sustain  itself  for  a  single  year.  Instead 
of  our  having  a  large  balance  of  trade  always  in  our 
favor,  as  should  have  been  conspicuously  the  case,  our 
foreign  imports  exceeded  our  exports  of  home 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  27 

products  by  the  tremendous  sum  of  $448,354,907, 
while  the  exports  of  our  specie  exceeded  the  im- 
ports of  money  from  other  countries  by  the  startling 
aggregate  of  $406,519,261.  Can  it  be  doubted  that  it' 
the  protective  policy  had  been  steadily  maintained 
during  this  period  and  the  duties  had  remained  as  fixed 
by  the  tariff  of  1842,  that  there  would  have  been  not 
only  an  abundance  of  revenue,  but  that  the  public 
debt,  principal  and  interest,  would  all  have  been 
extinguished,  and  the  Treasury  able  to  furnish  abund- 
ant means  to  defend  the  imperiled  life  of  the 
Nation  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  ?  Instead, 
our  credit  was  gone  and  it  was  with  great  difficulty 
that  the  Government  could  borrow  money  either  at 
home  or  abroad,  and  then  only  by  selling  our  bonds 
bearing  a  high  rate  of  interest  at  a  heavy  discount. 
An  able  financier  has  stated  his  confident  belief  that 
$200,000,000  in  specie,  which  he  declares  could  readily 
have  been  provided  by  a  protective  tariff  between  1850 
and  1860,  would  have  kept  the  National  debt  $1,000,- 
000,000  below  the  vast  sum  it  attained  during  the  war. 
Certain  it  is,  that  with  a  surplus  instead  of  a  deficit  in 
the  Treasury,  the  Nation  would  not  have  been  put  to 
the  shame  of  "  having  its  paper  hawked  in  the  money 
markets  at  the  usurious  rate  of  one  per  cent,  a  month."* 
Yet  to  this  condition  we  were  reduced  under  a  revenue 
tariff  in  the  summer  of  1860. 

Never  was  there  a  period  in  our  history  in  which  the 
free  trade  policy  had  so  excellent  an  opportunity  to 
demonstrate  its  usefulness  and  adequacy  to  our  indus- 
trial and  governmental  conditions.  But,  instead  of  in- 

*  James  G.  Blaine. 


28  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

suring  prosperity,  it  produced  universal  distress  and 
want ;  instead  of  raising  money  to  support  the  Govern- 
ment, even  during  a  time  of  peace  and  wonderful 
development,  the  system  of  duties  it  provided  was 
utterly  insufficient  and  produced  results  exactly  the 
opposite  of  those  claimed  for  it.  As  soon  as  the  foreign 
wars  ceased,  the  revenue  began  to  diminish  and  the 
expenditures  to  exceed  it,  thus  creating  deficiencies  and 
enforcing  loans  and  increasing  our  National  debt  from 
$15,500,000,  in  1846,  to  $90,580,000,  on  March  4,  1861. 

While  it  may  be  claimed  that  in  the  Presidential 
campaign  of  1860,  the  tariff  played  no  decisive  part, 
and  that  other  issues  controlled,  still  at  the  Republican 
National  Convention,  next  to  the  resolutions  opposing 
the  spread  of  slavery  into  territory  then  free,  the  fol- 
lowing declaration  of  the  platform  is  reported  to  have 
elicited  the  most  pronounced*  applause  : 

"  While  providing  revenue  for  the  support  of  the 
General  Government  by  duties  upon  imports,  sound 
policy  requires  such  an  adjustment  of  these  imports  as 
to  encourage  the  development  of  the  industrial  interests 
of  the  whole  country.  We  commend,  therefore,  that 
policy  of  National  exchanges  which  secures  to  the 
workingman  liberal  wages,  to  agriculture  renumeratiye 
prices,  to  mechanics  and  manufacturers  an  adequate 
reward  for  their  skill,  labor,  and  enterprise,  and  to  the 
x  Nation  commercial  prosperity  and  independence.1' 

This  was  accepted  then  and  has  always  and  every- 
where since  been  accepted  as  a  cardinal  doctrine  in  the 
creed  of  the  Republican  party.  Seldom,  if  ever,  has  it 

*  Murat  Halstead,  in  the  Cincinnati  Commercial,  an  eye-witness  of  all  the 
National  Conventions  of  this  year. 


\    \  I?  n  A  / 


OF  HENEY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  29 

been  better  stated  than  in  these  significant  sentences. 
Both  wings  of  the  discordant  Democracy  stood  ready 
to  join  issue  upon  the  tariff,  but  it  was  necessarily  of 
subordinate  interest  in  most  of  the  States.  In  Ohio, 
Indiana,  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and 
Connecticut,  however,  Republican  chances  were  de- 
cidedly benefited  by  the  position  of  the  party  on  the 
tariff.  Pennsylvania  had  been  carried  in  1856 
against  General  Fremont  for  President,  and  in  1857 
against  Hon.  David  Wilmot,  for  Governor,  directly 
upon  the  slavery  issue.  The  majority  for  Mr.  Buch- 
anan had  been  82,800;  and  for  Hon.  William  F.  Packer, 
over  Mr.  Wilmot,  42,750.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
Mr.  Wilmot  was  personalty  the  very  embodiment  of  the 
anti-slavery  issue,  and  that  issue  in  1860  was  in  no  re- 
spect more  favorable  to  the  Republicans,  in  any  of  its 
various  phases,  than  it  had  been  in  1857.  Without  the 
discussion  of  the  tariff,  it  was  confidently  asserted  by 
men  of  all  parties,  that  in  all  probability  Pennsylvania 
would  have  been  lost  by  the  Republicans  in  October, 

*  and  that  would  inevitably  have  defeated  the  National 

*  ticket  in  November. 

*"    The    Republican    candidate     for     Governor,    Hon. 
"Andrew  G.  Curtin,  was  quick  to  realize  this  condition 

*  of  public  opinion.  f   It  was  very  largely  due  to  his  effect. 
sive  appeals  to  the  workingmen  of  the  State,   that  Re- 
» publican  success  was  assured.     In  an  increased  vote, 

Mr.  Curtin  carried  the  State  in  October  by  a  majority 
-of  32,164,  and   thus   insured  it  for  Mr.  Lincoln,  who 

*  triumphed   over   all    opposing    candidates   by   nearly 
*60,000.     From  beginning  to  end  of  the  campaign  Mr. 
»  Curtin  devoted  the  greater  part  of  his  time  to  the  dis- 


30  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

cussion  of  the  tariff,  and  his  brilliant  victory  not  only 
electrified  the  Republicans  of  the  State  and  Nation,  but 
clearly  demonstrated  the  strong  hold  the  protective 
principle  had  upon  the  affections  of  the  people. 

During  Mr.  Buchanan's  entire  term  the  receipts  of 
the  Treasury  were  insufficient  to  meet  the  appropria- 
tions of  Congress  and  the  Government  steadily  incurred 
a  large  debt.  To  check  this  increasing  deficit,  the 
House,  which  was  controlled  by  the  Kepublicans,  in- 
sisted upon  a  bill  providing  a  scale  of  duties  which 
would  yield  a  larger  revenue,  and  on  May  10,  1860, 
succeeded  in  passing  it.  This  bill  had  been  prepared 
and  reported  by  Hon.  Justin  S.  Morrill,  of  Vermont. 
It  met  with  but  little  favor  on  the  majority  side  of  the 
Senate,  and  was  postponed  until  the  next  session.  At 
that  time,  owing  to  the  absence  of  the  Southern  mem- 
bers, the  whole  aspect  of  affairs  was  changed.  The 
Kepublicans  suddenly  found  themselves  in  control  of 
the  Senate,  and  the  bill  was  favorably  reported,  with 
amendments  increasing  the  proposed  duties.  The  Senate 
passed  the  bill  on  February  20,  1861,  by  a  strict  party 
vote — yeas  twenty-five,  all  Kepublicans  ;  nays  f ourteen, 
all  Democrats.  The  South  was  represented  by  members 
from  Arkansas,  North  Carolina,  Tennessee  and  Vir- 
ginia, and  to  their  negative  votes  were  added  those  of 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  of  Illinois,  Joseph  Lane,  of  Ore- 
gon, and  other  Northern  Senators.  The  test  vote  in 
the  House  was  taken  February  27th,  and  resulted  in 
favor  of  the  bill — yeas,  102;  nays,  43.  Of  those  in 
opposition,  twenty-eight  were  from  the  South  and  fif- 
teen from  the  North.  Seven  prominent  Southern 
leaders,  noted  for  their  subsequent  devotion  to  the 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  31 

Union,  voted  for  it.  The  Administration  was  within 
forty-eight  hours  of  its  close,  when  on  March  2,  1861, 
Mr.  Buchanan  approved  the  law.  In  his  earlier  career 
he  had  consistently  upheld  the  protective  doctrine,  and 
now  doubtlessly  welcomed  the  opportunity  to  again 
record  himself  in  its  favor. 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Thirty -seventh  Congress  convened  in  special 
session  on  July  4,  1861.  It  was  [Republican  in  both 
branches.  Perhaps  no  legislative  body  ever  enacted  so 
many  important  and  beneficial  laws  in  a  single  short 
session,  ending  August  6th.  It  met  President  Lin- 
coln's demand  for  $400,000,000  and  400,000  men 
bravely,  and  all  its  measures  for  the  prosecution  of  the 
war  were  signally  successful.  It  initiated  many  legis- 
lative departures,  and  its  work  will  remain  the  admir- 
ation of  the  student  and  model  of  the  legislator. 

The  "Morrill  tariff,"  so  called,  had  gone  into  effect 
on  April  1st,  and  was  amply  sustaining  the  hopes  of  its 
enactors  and  friends.  It  not  only  provided  an  in- 
creased rate  of  duties,  but  it  authorized  the  payment 
of  outstanding  Treasury  notes,  and  a  loan  of  $10,000,- 
000.  It  met  the  exigencies  so  well  that  a  general 
revision  was  not  attempted  at  the  extra  session.  By 
the  law  of  August  5,  1861,  however,  the  dutiable  list 
was  extended,  as  Thaddeus  Stevens,  of  Pennsylvania, 
Chairman  of  the  House  Ways  and  Means  Committee, 
estimated,  so  as  to  add  annually  about  $22,500,000  to 
the  revenue.  Its  scope  was  again  extended  at  the  reg- 
ular session,  by  the  act  of  December  24,  1861.  Under 
this,  the  duties  on  tea,  coffee  and  sugar  were  increased, 
directly  as  a  war  measure.  General  tariff  acts  increas- 
ing the  duties,  and  rendering  more  certain  their  prompt 


OF  HENBY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  33 

and  easy  collection  were  also  passed  with  comparatively 
little  opposition  on  July  14,  1862,  June  30,  1864,  and 
March  3,  1865. 

The  law  of  1862  was  especially  effective.  Not  only 
did  it  practically  shut  out  ruinous  competition  by  for- 
eign manufacturers,  but  it  provided  an  internal  revenue 
that  in  1866  reached  the  stupendous  aggregate  of  over 
$309,000,000,  or  a  million  dollars  for  each  working  day 
in  the  year.  The  tax  on  incomes  provided  by  it 
yielded  $72,982,000,  or  more  than  the  entire  receipts 
of  the  United  States  Government  for  all  purposes  in 
any  year  of  our  history  prior  to  the  outbreak  of  the 
Civil  War. 

Perhaps  the  law  encountering  greatest  resistance  was 
that  of  1864.  This  was  determinedly  opposed  by  the 
Democratic  leaders,  but  passed  the  House,  on  June  4th, 
by  a  vote  of  81  to  26,  and  the  Senate,  on  June  17th,  by 
22  to  5.  The  returns  from  these  measures  were  in  the 
highest  degree  satisfactory.  The  receipts  from  customs 
from  the  beginning  to  the  close  of  hostilities,  and  for 
the  years  immediately  succeeding  the  war,  were  far 
greater  than  had  been  expected.  In  1862  they  ex- 
ceeded $49,000,000;  in  1863,  $69,000,000;  in  1864, 
$102,316,000;  and  in  1865,  about  $85,000,000.  In 
1866,  at  the  dawn  of  peace,  the  cu&toms  receipts  in- 
creased to  $179,000,000,  or  more  than  twice  as  great  a 
sum  as  had  ever  been  raised  in  any  year  by  any  pre- 
vious tariff,  revenue  or  protective,  in  our  entire  history. 
In  1867  the  receipts  were  $176,417,000;  in  1868,  $164,- 
464,000  ;  in  1869,  $180,048,000  ;  and  in  1870,  $194,538,- 
000.  Equally  vast  or  greater  sums  were  collected  by 
the  Government  from  internal  taxes,  under  authority 


34  THE  TAEIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

of  these  acts,  increasing  annually  from  $37,640,000,  in 
1862,  to  $309,226,000,  in  1866. 

As  soon  as  our  great  armies  had  been  disbanded, 
however,  the  Republican  leaders  in  Congress  began  at 
once  to  discuss  measures  for  reducing  the  volume  of 
direct  taxation,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  to  limit  the 
expenditures  of  the  Government  to  its  resources  from 
customs  dues  and  a  tax  on  spirits  and  tobacco.  By  the 
acts  of  July  13,  1866,  and  March  2,  1867,  reductions  in 
internal  taxes  were  made  amounting  to  $105,000,000. 
Reductions  were  made  in  the  taxes  upon  about  four 
hundred  articles  of  manufacture,  on  saving  banks,  and  the 
gross  receipts  of  corporations,  the  aim  being  to  reduce 
the  total  internal  revenue  to  an  amount  not  exceeding 
$265,000,000  per  annum,  making  due  allowance  for  the 
increase  of  business  and  growth  of  the  country.  The 
receipts  for  1867  exceeded  this  amount  by  but  $100,000, 
yet  Congress,  by  the  act  of  March  2,  1867,  removed 
$40,000,000  in  taxes:  $19,500,000  from  incomes, 
$4,000,000  from  clothing,  $3,500,000  from  woolens, 
$3,250,000  from  leather,  $1,000,000  from  steam  engines, 
and  various  other  lesser  amounts. 

The  Fortieth  Congress  continued  the  work  of  reduc- 
ing the  "war  taxes"  with  great  alacrity.  A  tax  on  raw 
cotton  had  been  levied  in  1863  and  was  continued 
until  1868,  the  Government  realizing  from  it  about 
$68,000,000.  This  was  repealed,  and  a  further  reduc- 
tion of  internal  revenue  was  made  by  the  acts  of  March 
31,  and  July  30,  1868.  Relief  was  given  to  manu- 
facturers by  the  abolition  of  what  was  known  as  "  the 
five  per.  cent  tax  "  on  a  variety  of  products,  the  revenue 
from  which  was  estimated  at  $45,000,000. 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  35 

The  financial  legislation  of  the  time  was  comprehen- 
sive and  able.  Within  four  years  after  the  close  of 
the  Civil  War  the  National  debt  was  reduced  nearly 
$300,000,000,  and  steps  were  taken  looking  to  its 
speedy  payment  and  extinction,  instead  of  perpetuation, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  great  nations  of  Europe.  This 
was  done,  too,  notwithstanding  a  steady  and  enormous 
reduction  of  the  internal  revenue,  which,  in  1869,  was 
$151,000,000  less  than  in  1866.  Our  protective  system 
remained  unimpaired  and  was  fulfilling  every  expecta- 
tion of  its  friends  although  the  free  traders  were 
already  beginning  to  assault  it. 

The  Republican  National  Convention  of  1868  declared 
that  "it  is  due  to  the  labor  of  the  Nation  that 
taxation  should  be  equalized  and  reduced  as  rapidly 
as  the  National  faith  will  permit."  The  Democratic 
National  Convention,  on  the  other  hand,  declared,  with 
traditional  reverence,  in  favor  of  "a  tariff  for  revenue 
upon  foreign  imports ; "  and  then  added  the  anomalous 
provision,  "and  such  equal  taxation  under  the  internal 
revenue  laws  as  will,  without  impairing  the  revenue, 
impose  the  least  burden  upon  and  best  promote  and 
encourage  the  great  industrial  interests  of  the  country." 
So  far  as  this  could  be  construed  into  any  definite 
policy  it  was  a  preference  for  internal  taxation  instead 
of  customs  dues.  To  this  the  Republicans  of  the 
country  were  decidedly  opposed. 

At  the  first  session  of  the  Forty-first  Congress,  on 
March  29, 1869,  Hon.  George  W.  Morgan,  of  Ohio,  offered 
a  resolution  instructing  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee 
of  the  House  to  report  a  bill  "to  exempt  salt,  tea, 
coffee,  sugar,  matches,  and  tobacco  from  every  species 


36  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

of  taxation  for  Federal  purposes."  Mr.  Hooper,  of 
Massachusetts,  moved  that  it  be  laid  on  the  table, 
which  was  agreed  to — yeas,  104;  nays,  40.  The 
affirmative  vote  was  exclusively  Republican,  and  the 
negative  exclusively  Democratic,  except  one. 

At  the  second  session  of  this  Congress,  on  January 
31,  1870,  Hon.  Samuel  S.  Marshall,  of  Illinois,  offered  a 
resolution  in  the  House  declaring  that  "the  Constitution 
does  not  include  or  embrace  any  power  to  levy  duties 
for  any  purpose  other  than  the  collection  of  revenue, 
and  that  a  tariff  levied  for  any  purpose  other  than 
revenue  is  unjust  to  the  body  of  the  American  people." 
On  motion  of  Mr.  Kelsey,  of  New  York,  the  resolution 
was  laid  on  the  table — yeas,  90;  nays,  77.  The  affirmative 
vote  was  entirely  by  Republicans ;  the  negative,  Demo- 
crats 52,  Republicans  25. 

On  March  14th,  Mr.  Marshall  again  offered  a  reso- 
lution declaring  "  that  no  duty  should  be  imposed  on 
any  article  above  the  lowest  rate  which  will  yield  the 
largest  amount  of  revenue."  It  was  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Ways  and  Means. 

On  June  6th,  Hon.  Hamilton  Ward,  of  New  York, 
submitted  a  resolution  directing  the  Committee  on 
Ways  and  Means  "to  report  a  bill  abolishing  the  tariff 
on  coal."  This  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  112  to  78, 
seventy-six  Republicans  and  thirty-six  Democrats  voting 
in  the  affirmative,  and  sixty-one  Republicans  and 
seventeen  Democrats  in  the  negative. 

On  June  27th,  Hon.  Henry  A.  Reeves,  of  New  York, 
moved  that  the  Committee  be  instructed  to  report  a 
bill  "reducing  the  present  duties  on  all  classes  of  salt 
fifty  per  cent."  His  resolution  was  adopted  by  a  vote 


OP  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  87 

of  1 10  to  49  ;  fifty-seven  Kepublicans  and  forty-three 
Democrats  in  the  affirmative,  and  forty-nine  Republicans 
in  the  negative. 

On  July  14, 1870,  President  Grant  approved  the  gen- 
eral tariff  act  which  was  passed  by  Congress  at  this  ses- 
sion. It  reduced  the  revenue  from  customs  about  $27,- 
000,000,  and  from  internal  revenue  some  $53,000,000, 
according  to  the  estimate  of  Hon.  Robert  C.  Schenck,  of 
Ohio,  then  Chairman  of  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee 
of  the  House,  and  one  of  the  most  capable  and  popular 
leaders  in  Congress.  To  his  industry,  ability  and  elo- 
quence the  country  is  especially  indebted  for  the  main- 
tenance of  our  protective  system.  Upon  few  statesmen 
of  the  period  devolved  such  weighty  responsibilities, 
cheerfully  and  creditably  borne  in  every  emergency. 
The  bill  passed  the  House,  on  June  6th,  by  a  vote  of 
152  to  35,  fifteen  Democrats  voting  in  the  affirmative, 
and  two  Republicans  in  the  negative.  It  passed  the 
Senate,  as  amended,  on  July  5th,  yeas,  43  ;  nays,  6  ;  two 
Democrats  voted  for  the  bill,  and  one  Republican 
against  it.  The  House  concurred  in  the  Senate  amend- 
ments to  abolish  all  special  taxes  (such  as  the  tax  on 
passports)  and  fix  the  income  tax  at  two-and-a-half  per 
cent.  The  bill  then  went  to  a  Conference  Committee 
consisting  of  Senators  Sherman,  of  Ohio,  Morrill,  of 
Vermont,  and  Hamilton,  of  Maryland,  and  Representa- 
tives Schenck,  of  Ohio,  Kelley,  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
James  Brooks,  of  New  York.  Their  report  was  sub- 
mitted on  July  13th,  adopted  by  the  Senate  without 
division,  and  by  the  House  by  a  vote  of  144  to  49. 

The  duties  on  tea,  coffee  and  sugar,  and  some  articles 
of  steel  and  iron  were  reduced,  but  neither  salt  nor  coal 


38  THE  TABIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

was  put  on  the  free  list.  The  country  did  not  accept 
the  bill  without  misgivings  that  Congress,  in  its  haste 
to  reduce  taxation,  had  failed  to  give  sufficient  regard 
to  the  prospective  needs  of  the  Government. 

President  Grant,  with  the  common  sense  for  which 
he  was  proverbial,  promptly  announced  his  opposition 
to  all  covert  attacks  upon  our  protective  system.  Dis- 
cussing the  insidious  pleas  for  "  revenue  reform,"  which 
free  traders  were  making,  in  his  annual  message  to 
Congress,  December  5,  1870,  he  said: 

"  If  it  (revenue  reform)  implies  a  collection  of  all  the 
revenue  for  the  support  of  the  Government,  for  the 
payment  of  principal  and  interest  of  the  public  debt, 
pensions,  etc.,  by  directly  taxing  the  people,  then  I  am 
against  revenue  reform,  and  confidently  believe  the 
people  are  with  me.  If  it  means  failure  to  provide  the 
necessary  means  to  defray  all  the  expenses  of  the  Govern- 
ment, and  thereby  the  repudiation  of  the  public  debt, 
and  of  pensions,  then  I  am  still  more  opposed  to  any 
such  kind  of  revenue  reform.  Revenue  reform  has  not 
been  defined  by  any  of  its  advocates,  to  my  knowledge, 
but  seems  to  be  accepted  as  something  which  is  to 
supply  every  man's  wants  without  any  cost  or  effort  on 
his  part.  A  true  revenue  reform  can  not  be  made  in  a 
day,  but  it  must  be  the  the  work  of  National  legislation, 
and  of  time.  As  soon  as  the  revenue  can  be  dispensed 
with,  all  duty  should  be  removed  from  coffee,  tea  and 
other  articles  of  universal  use  not  produced  by  our- 
selves. The  necessities  of  the  country  compel  us  to  col- 
lect revenue  from  our  imports.  An  army  of  assessors 
and  collectors  is  not  a  pleasant  sight  to  the  citizen,  but 
that,  or  a  tariff  for  revenue  is  necessary.  Such  a  tariff, 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  39 

> 

so  far  as  it  acts  as  an  encouragement  to  home  produc- 
tion, affords  employment  to  labor  at  living  wages,  in 
contrast  to  the  pauper  labor  of  the  Old  World,  and 
also  in  the  development  of  home  resources." 

Hon.  William  D.  Kelley,  of  Pennsylvania,  offered  a 
resolution  in  the  House,  on  December  12,  1870,  de- 
claring that  "  the  true  principle  of  revenue  reform 
points  to  the  abolition  of  the  internal  revenue  system 
and  retention  only  of  taxes  on  distilled  spirits,  tobacco, 
and  malt  liquors,  so  long  as  the  legitimate  expenses  of 
the  Government  require  the  collection  of  any  sum  from 
internal  taxes."  He  moved  a  suspension  of  the  rules, 
which  was  agreed  to,  and  the  resolution  was  adopted 
almost  unanimously — yeas,  168  ;  nays,  6. 

In  his  third  annual  message  to  Congress  (December 
4,  1871),  President  Grant  again  discussed  the  propriety 
of  a  revision  of  the  tariff.  In  this  he  said : 

"  The  prosperity  and  greatness  of  a  nation  is  to  be 

found  in  the  elevation  and   education   of  its  laborers. 

......  In  readjusting  the  tariff  I  suggest   that   a 

careful  estimate  be  made  of  the  amount  of  surplus 
revenue  collected  under  the  present  laws,  after  pro- 
viding for  the  current  expenses  of  the  Government,  the 
interest  account,  and  a  sinking  fund,  and  this  surplus 
be  reduced  in  such  a  manner  as  to  afford  the  greatest 
relief  to  the  greatest  number.  There  are  many  articles 
not  produced  at  home,  but  which  may  enter  largely 
into  general  consumption  through  articles  which  are 
manufactured  at  home,  such  as  medicines  compounded, 
etc.,  from  which  very  little  revenue  is  derived,  but 
which  enter  into  general  use.  All  such  articles,  I  rec- 
ommend to  be  placed  on  the  "free  list."  Should  a 


40  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

further  reduction  prove  advisable,  I  would  then  recom- 
mend that  it  be  made  upon  those  articles  which  can 
best  bear  it  without  disturbing  home  production  or 
reducing  the  wages  of  American  labor." 

On  March  13,  1871,  in  the  Forty-second  Congress,  at 
its  first  session,  Hon.  Samuel  J.  Randall,  of  Pennsylvania, 
who  was  afterwards  to  figure  so  prominently  in  tariff 
legislation,  moved  to  suspend  the  rules  and  put  upon  its 
passage  a  bill  to  comply  with  the  recommendations  of 
President  Grant  by  placing  tea  and  coffee  on  the  free 
list.  This  was  agreed  to,  and  the  bill  passed — yeas, 
140 ;  nays,  48,  nine  Democrats  and  thirty-nine  Repub- 
licans voting  in  the  negative.  The  Senate  did  not  act 
on  this  bill  until  more  than  a  year  later,  when,  on  April 
30,  1872,  Mr.  Scott,  of  Pennsylvania,  called  it  up,  and 
submitted  an  amendment  to  the  effect  that  "  all  tea 
and  coffee  in  public  stores  or  bonded  warehouses  on 
July  1st  should  be  free  of  duty,  and  that  a  rebate 
should  be  granted  on  that  which  had  previously  paid 
a  duty."  This  was  agreed  to,  but  amendments  to 
further  extend  the  free  list,  so  as  to  include  salt,  and 
other  articles,  were  defeated.  The  bill  was  then  passed 
— yeas,  39 ;  nays,  10,  four  Democrats  and  six  Repub- 
licans voting  in  the  negative.  The  Senate  amendments 
were  concurred  in  by  the  House,  and  the  act  was 
approved  by  President  Grant  on  May  1st.  The  re- 
duction in  revenue  by  it  amounted  to  $20,000,000  per 
annum. 

The  temper  of  the  times  suggested  many  experiments. 
On  March  13, 1871.  Hon.  JohnF.  Farnsworth,  of  Illinois, 
moved  to  suspend  the  rules  of  the  House  and  pass  a 
bill  providing  that  "  no  tax  or  duty  shall  be  levied  or 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  41 

collected  upon  foreign  coal."  This  was  agreed  to,  and 
the  bill  was  passed — yeas,  130 ;  nays,  57.  Twelve 
Democrats  voted  in  the  negative.  The  Senate  took  no 
action  on  the  bill. 

On  the  following  day,  Hon.  Eugene  Hale,  of  Maine, 
moved  to  suspend  the  rules,  and  pass  a  bill  "  placing 
salt  on  the  free  list."  This  was  agreed  to,  and  the  bill 
was  passed — yeas,  147 ;  nays,  46.  Seven  Democrats 
and  thirty-nine  Kepublicans  voted  in  the  negative.  The 
Senate  did  not  consider  the  bill. 

On  March  27th,  Hon.  Ellery  A.  Hibbard,  of  New 
Hampshire,  offered  a  resolution,  which  was  referred  to 
the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  without  contest, 
declaring  that  "  the  tariff  should  be  so  reformed  as  to  be 
a  tax  for  revenue  only,  and  not  for  the  protection  of 
class  interests  at  the  general  expense."  On  the  same  day, 
Hon.  Hosea  W.  Parker,  of  the  same  State,  offered  a 
resolution  declaring  it  the  sense  of  the  House  "  that  the 
tariff  should  be  so  reformed  as  to  be  a  tax  for  revenue 
only."  This,  too,  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Ways  and  Means — yeas,  98;  nays,  18 — a  strict  party 
vote,  except  seven  Democrats  voted  for  the  reference, 
and  five  Republicans  against  it. 

On  April  10, 1871,  Hon.  William  D.  Kelley,  as  in  the 
previous  Congress,  offered  a  resolution  declaring  that 
"the  true  principle  of  revenue  reform  points  to  the  abo- 
lition of  the  internal  revenue  system."  It  was  adopted 
— yeas,  130 ;  nays,  21,  eight  Republicans  voting  in  the 
negative. 

On  February  19,  1872,  Hon.  Eugene  Hale  moved  to 
suspend  the  rules  and  pass  a  bill  placing  coal  and  salt 
on  the  free  list,  but  the  motion  did  not  receive  the 


42  THE  TAKIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

necessary  two-thirds  vote — yeas,  102;  nays,  86.  Six- 
teen Democrats  voted  against,  and  thirty-seven  Repub- 
licans for  suspending  the  rules. 

On  February  26th,  Hon.  Samuel  S.  Cox,  of  New 
York,  moved  to  suspend  the  rules  and  pass  a  bill  "re- 
ducing the  tariff  on  pig-iron  to  five  dollars  per  ton,  or 
less,"  but  the  motion  was  lost — yeas,  74 ;  nays,  99.  All 
the  affirmative  votes  but  eleven  were  cast  by  Democrats 
and  all  the  negative  but  eleven  by  Republicans. 

At  this  session,  under  the  act  of  March  5th,  Congress 
repealed  all  internal  taxes  on  canned  meats,  fish,  fruits, 
and  vegetables.  By  the  general  tariff  act  of  June  6, 
1872,  also  passed  at  this  session,  many  changes  were 
made  in  existing  duties.  A  reduction  of  ten  per  cent,  was 
made  in  the  duties  on  all  importations  of  cotton,  wool, 
iron,  steel,  paper,  straw,  rubber,  glass  and  leather,  with 
numerous  specific  changes,  and  a  large  addition  to  the 
free  list.  This  bill  passed  the  House  on  May  20th — 
yeas,  149 ;  nays,  61 — and  the  Senate,  as  amended,  on 
May  31st,  with  but  three  dissenting  votes,  all  Repub- 
licans. The  report  of  the  Committee  of  Conference  was 
quickly  agreed  to,  and  the  bill  promptly  signed  by  the 
President.  Under  these  acts,  and  that  of  May  1st,  the 
reduction  in  internal  taxes  was  about  $21,131,000,  and 
the  decrease  in  customs  about  $44,000,000. 

The  Liberal  Republican  platform  of  1872  subse- 
quently adopted  by  the  Democratic  National  Conven- 
tion declared :  "  That  recognizing  that  there  are  in  our 
midst  honest  but  irreconcilable  differences  of  opinion 
with  regard  to  the  respective  systems  of  protection  and 
free  trade,  we  remit  the  discussion  of  the  subject  to  the 
people  in  their  Congressional  districts,  and  the  decisions 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  43 

of  Congress  thereon,  wholly  free  from  executive  inter- 
ference, or  dictation." 

The  Republican  National  Convention  met  the  issue 
more  boldly.  It  declared :  "  That  revenue,  except  so 
much  as  may  be  derived  from  a  tax  upon  tobacco  and 
liquor,  should  be  raised  by  duties  upon  importations, 
the  details  of  which  should  be  so  adjusted  as  to  aid  in 
securing  remunerative  wages  to  labor,  and  in  promoting 
the  industries,  prosperity,  and  growth  of  the  whole  coun- 
try." Upon  this  platform  the  Republicans  won  an  unpre- 
cedented victory,  and  carried  the  Forty-third  Congress 
by  an  overwhelming  majority. 

In  his  fifth  annual  message  to  Congress,  on  December 
1,  1873,  President  Grant  devoted  considerable  attention 
to  the  consideration  of  our  National  finances.  His 
observations,  in  part,  were  as  follows : 

"  The  receipts  of  the  Government  from  all  sources  for 
the  last  fiscal  year  were  $333,738,204,  and  the  expendi- 
tures on  all  accounts  $290,345,245,  thus  showing  an 
excess  of  receipts  over  expenditures  of  $43,393,959. 
But  it  is  not  probable  that  this  favorable  exhibit  will 
be  shown  for  the  present  fiscal  year.  Indeed,  it  is  very 
doubtful  whether,  except  with  great  economy  on  the 
part  of  Congress  in  making  appropriations  and  the  same 
economy  in  administering  the  various  departments  of 
Government,  the  revenue  will  not  fall  short  of  meet- 
ing actual  expenses,  including  interest  on  the  public 
debt. 

"  The  revenues  have  materially  fallen  off  for  the  first 
five  months  of  the  present  fiscal  year  from  what  they 
were  expected  to  produce,  owing  to  the  general  panic 
now  prevailing,  which  commenced  about  the  middle  of 


44  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

September  last.  The  full  effect  of  this  disaster,  if  it 
should  not  prove  a  "  blessing  in  disguise, "  is  yet  to  be 
demonstrated.  In  either  event  it  is  your  duty  to  heed 
the  lesson,  and  to  provide  by  wise  and  well  considered 
legislation,  as  far  as  it  lies  in  your  power,  against  its 
recurrence,  and  to  take  advantage  of  all  benefits  that 
may  have  accrued.  My  own  judgment  is  that,  however 
much  individuals  may  have  suffered,  one  long  step  has 
been  taken  toward  specie  payment,  that  we  can  never 
have  permanent  prosperity  until  a  specie  basis  is  reachedr 
and  that  a  specie  basis  can  not  be  reached  and  main- 
tained until  our  exports,  exclusive  of  gold,  pay  for  our 
imports,  interest  due  abroad,  and  other  specie  obliga- 
tions, or  so  nearly  so  as  to  leave  an  appreciable  accum- 
ulation of  the  precious  metals  in  the  country  from  the 
products  of  our  mines.  ...  In  further  connection  with 
the  Treasury  Department  I  would  recommend  a  revision 
and  codification  of  the  tariff  laws,  and  the  opening  of 
more  mints  for  coining  money,  with  authority  to  coin 
for  such  nations  as  may  apply. " 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  on  January  12,  1874r 
Mr.  Kelley,  of  Pennsylvania,  moved  to  suspend  the 
rules  and  adopt  a  resolution  declaring  "  that  the  taxes 
which  now  burden  the  people  should  not  be  increased  • 
but  the  support  of  the  Government  during  the  present 
temporary  paralysis  in  the  industries  of  the  country 
should  be  met  by  a  temporary  loan  or  loans."  The 
motion  was  disagreed  to,  two-thirds  not  voting  in  the 
affirmative — yeas,  154;  nays,  83.  Fifty-six  Democrats 
and  ninety-eight  Republicans  voted  to  suspend  the 
rules ;  and  twenty  Democrats  and  sixty-three  Republi- 
cans against  it. 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  45 

On  the  same  day,  Hon.  William  S.  Holman,  6f 
Indiana,  offered  the  following  resolution: 

"Resolved,  That  in  the  judgment  of  this  House  there 
is  no  necessity  for  increased  taxation  or  for  an  increase 
of  the  public  debt  by  a  further  loan  if  there  shall  be 
severe  economy  in  the  public  expenditures  ;  and  in  view 
of  the  condition  of  the  National  finances  this  House 
will  reduce  the  appropriations  and  public  expenditures 
to  the  lowest  point  consistent  with  a  proper  adminis- 
tration of  public  affairs." 

The  rules  were  suspended  and  it  was  adopted  by 
a  vote  of  two  hundred  and  twenty-two  to  three. 

Hon.  Joseph  R  Hawley,  of  Connecticut,  offered  a 
fitting  supplement  to  this  resolution  which  was  also 
adopted.  It  declared  that — 

"The  expenditures  of  the  Nation  can  and  should  be 
so  reduced  and  regulated  that  they  can  be  met  by  the 
existing  taxes,  and  in  no  event  should  there  be  an 
increase  of  either  interest-bearing  or  non-interest-bear- 
ing obligations  of  the  Government." 

These  resolutions  had  reference,  of  course,  to  the  so- 
called  "panic  of  1873,"  and  the  financial  depression 
'which  followed.  The  causes  that  produced  this 
financial  disturbance  were  not  connected  with  our 
revenue  system.  They  were  the  necessary  and 
logical  effects  of  the  war,  and  the  long  period  of 
speculation  and  inflation  attendant  upon  it.  Wise 
financiers  foresaw  and  predicted  it,  and  had  the 
contraction  policy  been  adopted  by  Congress,  the  crash 
would  have  been  precipitated  upon  the  country  at  an 
earlier  day  and  with  greater  severity.  The  protective 
policy  retarded  and  mitigated  our  monetary  evils,  and 


46  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

there  were  fewer  suspensions  of  factories,  lighter  re- 
ductions in  wages,  less  distress  on  the  farm,  and  a 
smaller  proportionate  shrinkage  of  values,  the  country 
over,  than  had  occurred  in  any  of  our  previous  great 
financial  depressions.  Moreover,  the  country  emerged 
from  it  more  promptly,  and  in  a  more  prosperous  con- 
dition, than  in  any  other  panic.  Depreciation  in  values 
and  failures  in  business  were  unavoidable,  but  the 
expansion  and  development  which  followed  the  resump- 
tion of  specie  payment,  and  the  close  of  the  panic, 
were  on  a  surer  and  safer  basis  than  ever  before  had 
been  attained  in  the  fiscal  history  of  the  United  States. 

By  the  acts  of  May  9,  and  June  22,  1874,  further 
reductions  and  modifications  in  customs  duties  were 
made,  amounting  in  the  aggregate  to  from  $6,000,000 
to  $10,000,000.  The  passage  of  these  laws  was  un- 
timely and  they  were  evidently  not  satisfactory,  if  we 
may  judge  from  President  Grant's  sixth  annual  message 
to  Congress,  on  December  7,  1874.  In  this  he  said  : 

"  At  the  last  session  of  Congress  a  very  considerable 
reduction  was  made  in  the  rates  of  taxation  and  in  the 
number  of  articles  submitted  to  taxation.  The  question 
may  well  be  asked  whether  or  not,  in  some  instances,  un- 
wisely. In  connection  with  this  subject,  too,  I  venture 
the  opinion  that  the  means  of  collecting  the  revenue, 
especially  from  imports,  have  been  so  embarrassed  by 
legislation,  as  to  make  it  questionable  whether  or  not 
large  amounts  are  not  lost  by  failure  to  collect,  to  the 
direct  loss  of  the  Treasury,  and  to  the  prejudice  of  the 
interests  of  honest  importers  and  taxpayers." 

In  compliance  with  these  suggestions,  Congress,  by 
the  acts  of  February  8,  and  March  3, 18 75,  increased  the 


OP  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  47 

taxes  on  liquors  and  tobacco,  and  the  duties  on  sugar 
and  molasses.  The  ten  per  cent,  decrease  of  duties, 
provided  by  the  act  of  June  6,  1872,  was  repealed. 

The  House  of  Representatives  in  the  Forty-fourth 
Congress  for  the  first  time  since  the  war  was  strongly 
Democratic,  containing  168  Democrats  in  a  total  mem- 
bership of  293.  It  organized  by  electing  Hon.  Michael 
C.  Kerr,  of  Indiana,  Speaker,  who  appointed  Col. 
William  R.  Morrison,  of  Illinois,  Chairman  of  the 
Ways  and  Means  Committee.  Mr.  Kerr's  health  was  so 
poor,  however,  that  he  died  a  few  days  after  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  first  session,  and  was  succeeded  as  Speaker 
by  Hon.  Samuel  J.  Randall,  of  Pennsylvania.  The 
Senate  remained  Republican  by  forty-two  to  thirty-two. 

To  this  Congress,  President  Grant  addressed  his 
seventh  annual  message,  December  7,  1875.  Speaking 
of  the  tariff,  he  said : 

"One  measure  for  increasing  the  revenue — and  the 
only  one  I  think  of — is  the  restoration  of  the  duty  on  tea 
and  coffee.  These  duties  would  add  probably  $18,000- 
000  to  the  present  amount  received  from  imports  and 
would  in  no  way  increase  the  price  paid  for  these 
articles  by  the  consumers.  These  articles  are  the  pro- 
ducts of  countries  collecting  revenue  from  exports,  and 
as  we,  their  largest  consumers,  reduce  the  duties,  they 
proportionately  increase  them.  With  this  addition  to 
the  revenue,  many  duties  now  collected,  and  which  give 
but  an  insignificant  return  for  the  cost  of  collection, 
might  be  remitted,  and  to  the  direct  advantage  of  con- 
sumers at  home." 

At  the  first  session  of  this  Congress,  on  January  31, 
1876,  Mr.  Morrison,  of  Illinois,  introduced  a  bill  for  the 


48  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

revision  of  the  tariff.  It  reduced  the  rates  on  almost 
the  entire  dutiable  list  except  cigars  (on  which  the  duty 
was  increased)  and  reimposed  a  duty  upon  tea  and  cof- 
fee. The  bill  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Ways  and 
Means,  and  on  May  25th,  the  House,  in  Committee  of  the 
Whole,  began  its  discussion.  Mr.  Morrison  opened  the 
debate,  which  continued  at  intervals  until  June  2d,  when 
it  was  postponed  to  the  next  session,  but  the  bill  never 
came  to  a  direct  vote  at  any  stage  of  the  proceedings. 

On  May  29th,  Hon.  Charles  H.  Adams,  of  New  York, 
offered  a  resolution,  declaring  it  the  judgment  of 
the  House  "that  legislation  affecting  the  tariff  is  at 
this  time  inexpedient."  The  main  question  was  ordered, 
but  Mr.  Morrison  secured  a  reconsideration  by  a  vote 
of  120  to  94,  and  had  the  resolution  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Ways  and  Means.  Eight  Republi- 
cans and  Independents  voted  with  the  Democrats  for 
the  reference,  and  nineteen  Democrats  and  Independ- 
ents with  the  Republicans  against  it.  No  tariff 
legislation  was  further  attempted  during  the  session. 

The  tariff  was  a  platform  issue  of  the  Presidential 
campaign  of  1876,  but  received  comparatively  little 
attention  from  the  press  or  the  masses  of  the  voters  of 
either  party.  At  the  Republican  National  Convention 
in  Cincinnati,  on  June  14th,  it  was  unanimously  resolved: 

"  That  the  revenue  necessary  for  current  expenditures, 
and  the  obligations  of  the  public  debt,  must  be  largely 
derived  from  duties  upon  importations,  which,  so  far  as 
possible,  should  be  adjusted  to  promote  the  interests  of 
American  labor  and  advance  the  prosperity  of  the  whole 
country." 

At  the  Democratic  National  Convention  in  St.  Louis, 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  49 

June  27th,  the  platform  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  651 
to  83.  The  eleventh  plank  of  this  lengthy  "  declaration 
of  principles  "  is  as  follows : 

"  We  denounce  the  present  tariff,  levied  upon  nearly 
4,000  articles,  as  a  masterpiece  of  injustice,  inequality 
and  false  pretence.  It  yields  a  dwindling,  not  a  yearly 
rising,  revenue.  It  has  impoverished  many  industries 
to  subsidize  a  few.  It  prohibits  imports  that  might 
purchase  the  products  of  American  labor.  It  has  de- 
graded American  commerce  from  the  first  to  an  inferior 
rank  on  the  high  seas.  It  has  cut  down  the  sales  of 
American  manufacturers  at  home  and  abroad,  and 
depleted  the  returns  of  American  agriculture — an  in- 
dustry followed  by  half  our  people.  It  costs  the  people 
five  times  more  than  it  produces  to  the  Treasury, 
obstructs  the  processes  of  production,  and  wastes  the 
fruits  of  labor.  It  promotes  fraud,  fosters  smuggling, 
enriches  dishonest  officials,  and  bankrupts  honest  mer- 
chants. We  demand  that  all  custom-house  taxation 
shall  be  only  for  revenue." 

The  House  of  Eepresentatives  of  the  Forty-fifth  Con- 
gress, elected  in  1876,  was  again  Democratic,  the 
majority  party  electing  153  of  the  293  members.  The 
Senate  was  Eepublican  by  the  narrow  margin  of  two 
votes — Kepublicans,  39 ;  Democrats,  36 ;  Independents, 
1.  Hon.  Samuel  J.  Kandall  was  re-elected  Speaker  of 
the  House,  and  by  his  appointment  Hon.  Fernando 
Wood,  of  New  York,  became  Chairman  of  the  Ways 
and  Means  Committee. 

On  December  1,  1877,  at  the  very  beginning  of  the 
session,  Hon.  Roger  Q.  Mills,  of  Texas,  moved  to  sus- 
pend the  rules  and  adopt  a  resolution  "  instructing  the 


60  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

Committee  on  Ways  and  Means  to  so  revise  the  tariff  as 
to  make  it  purely  and  solely  a  tariff  for  revenue,  and 
not  for  protecting  one  class  of  citizens  by  plundering 
another."  The  motion  was  disagreed  to — yeas,  67,  all 
Democrats  but  six;  nays,  76,  all  Kepublicans  but  ten. 

Nevertheless,  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means 
promptly  reported  a  tariff  bill  materially  reducing  ex- 
isting duties,  and  especially  crippling  the  steel  and  iron, 
glass  and  pottery  industries.  On  March  28,  1878,  Mr. 
Wood  moved  that  his  bill  be  made  the  special  order  for 
April  4th,  which  was  objected  to,  but  the  motion  pre- 
vailed by  a  vote  of  137  to  114 — fifteen  Eepublicans 
voting  in  the  affirmative  and  ten  Democrats  in  the  nega- 
tive. The  discussions  in  the  Committee  of  the  Whole 
were  decidedly  adverse  to  the  bill.  It  was  shown  that 
there  was  no  popular  demand  for  such  legislation,  but 
on  the  contrary  that  the  workingmen  of  the  country  by 
the  thousands  had  not  only  remonstrated  against  the 
pending  measure,  but  insisted  rather  on  an  increase  of 
the  duties.  There  was  no  plethora  in  the  revenue  nor 
surplus  in  the  Treasury  justifying  its  passage.  Indeed, 
the  experts  of  the  Treasury  estimated  that  the  revenue 
to  be  derived  under  the  bill,  on  the  basis  of  the  importa- 
tions of  1877,  would  be  insufficient  to  support  the  Gov- 
ernment, and  result  in  a  deficiency  of  at  least  $9,000,000 
annually.  The  Committee  of  the  Whole  House  there- 
fore agreed  to  recommend  the  defeat  of  the  bill.  The 
question  of  "  striking  out  the  enacting  clause  "  came  to  a 
vote  in  the  House  on  June  5th  and  the  recommendation 
of  the  Committee  was  sustained — yeas,  134;  nays,  120. 
Nineteen  Democrats  voted  in  the  affirmative  and  six 
Kepublicans  in  the  negative,  while  fourteen  Republicans 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  51 

and  twenty-two  Democrats  did  not  vote.  Thus  ended 
another  assault  on  our  protective  system,  but,  as  Mr. 
Wood  declared,  in  anticipation  of  an  adverse  result,  "  the 
fight  had  only  just  begun." 

In  the  election  of  1878  the  Democrats  carried  the 
House  of  Representatives  in  the  Forty-sixth  Congress, 
and  the  Senate  was  also  Democratic,  that  party  having 
succeeded  in  electing  forty-two  of  the  seventy-six  mem- 
bers. In  accordance  with  the  call  of  President  Hayes, 
Congress  convened  in  special  session  on  March  18, 1879. 
Mr.  Randall  was  again  elected  Speaker  and  Mr.  Wood 
re-appointed  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Ways  and 
Means,  with  such  prominent  free-trade  "  tariff  reformers  " 
as  Messrs.  Tucker,  of  Virginia,  Morrison,  of  Illinois, 
Mills,  of  Texas,  and  Carlisle,  of  Kentucky,  as  his  asso- 
ciates. 

On  June  30,  1879,  Hon.  James  W.  Covert,  of  New- 
York,  moved  to  suspend  the  rules  of  the  House  and 
pass  a  bill  "  to  put  salts  of  quinine  on  the  free  list." 
There  was  little  opposition  to  the  motion,  and  the  bill 
passed  by  a  vote  of  125  to  33.  It  passed  the  Senate,  on 
July  1st,  without  division,  and  was  promptly  approved 
by  the  President. 

In  the  House,  on  January  12,  1880,  Hon.  William  H. 
Hatch,  of  Missouri,  moved  to  suspend  the  rules  and  pass 
a  bill  providing  that  "  no  duty  shall  be  levied  or  col- 
lected, directly  or  indirectly,  on  the  importation  of  salt," 
but  it  was  disagreed  to — yeas,  115  ;  nays,  116.  Sixteen 
Republicans  voted  in  the  affirmative,  and  fifteen  Demo- 
crats in  the  negative. 

On  March  1st,  Hon.  William  M.  Lowe,  of  Alabama, 
introduced  a  bill  to  provide  for  refunding  the  cotton  tax, 


52  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

collected  during  the  war,  to  the  States  from  which  it 
was  collected.  It  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Ways  and  Means — yeas,  136  (Republicans  103,  Demo- 
crats and  Nationalists  33)  ;  nays,  92,  (Democrats  89, 
Nationalists  3 ) — and  was  never  subsequently  re- 
ported. 

On  March  8th,  Hon.  William  J.  Samford,  of  Alabama, 
introduced  two  bills  affecting  the  tariff.  The  first  pro- 
posed a  reduction  of  fifty  per  cent,  on  merchandise  com- 
posed of  "  hemp,  metals,  wool,  wood  and  cotton ;  "  the 
second,  the  repeal  of  all  duties  on  ''printing-type  and  pa- 
per, and  the  materials  entering  into  their  composition." 
He  asked  their  reference  to  the  Committee  on  Revision  of 
Laws,  but  this  was  disagreed  to,  and  the  bills  were  sent 
to  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  by  the  test  vote 
of  114  to  87.  One  hundred  and  seven  Republicans  and 
thirty-seven  Democrats  voted  for  the  latter  reference ; 
and  seven  Republicans  and  eighty  Democrats  against  it. 
On  the  same  day  Mr.  Hatch's  "  free  salt  bill  "  was  re- 
ferred to  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee,  the  Republi- 
cans generally  favoring  and  the  Democrats  opposing  the 
reference. 

On  March  22nd,  Hon.  Richard  W.  Townshend,  of 
Illinois,  introduced  a  bill  to  abolish  "  the  duty  on  salt, 
printing-type,  printing-paper,  and  the  chemicals  and 
materials  used  in  the  manufacture  of  printing-paper," 
and  secured  its  reference  to  the  Committee  on  Revision 
of  Laws.  On  the  next  day  General  Garfield  moved  "  to 
amend  the  journal  so  as  to  refer  it  to  the  Ways  and 
Means  Committee."  A  bitter  parliamentary  fight  en- 
sued, lasting  several  days,  in  which  the  opponents  of 
the  bill  were  finally  successful,  the  reference  to  the 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  53 

Ways  and  Means  Committee  being  ordered  by  a  vote 
of  142  to  90.  All  the  negative  votes  were  cast  by 
Democrats,  with  the  exception  of  three  Nationalists. 

On  April  5th,  Mr.  Townshend  moved  to  suspend  the 
rules  and  discharge  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means 
from  the  further  consideration  of  this  bill.  This  was 
disagreed  to  by  a  vote  of  112  to  80. 

On  May  llth,  Mr.  Tucker,  from  the  Ways  and 
Means  Committee,  reported  a  bill  "to  regulate  the 
duties  on  hoop,  band,  and  scroll  iron,"  which,  with  the 
accompanying  report,  was  referred  to  the  Committee  of 
the  Whole  House.  Mr.  Garfield,  of  Ohio,  submitted  a 
minority  report,,  signed  by  himself  and  the  other 
[Republican  members  of  the  Committee.  No  other 
action  was  taken  upon  the  measure. 

Mr.  Tucker  reported  a  second  bill  "  to  regulate  the 
customs  duties  on  sugar,"  and  it,  too,  was  referred  to 
the  Committee  of  the  Whole,  without  any  further 
action  by  the  House.  He  also  reported  a  third  bill, 
commonly  known  as  "  the  general  tariff  bill,"  but 
styled  by  the  Committee  as  a  bill  "  to  regulate  the  cus- 
toms duties  on  certain  articles  therein  named."  On 
May  24th,  Mr.  Garfield  submitted  an  exhaustive  minor- 
ity  report  embracing  the  views  of  himself  and  col- 
leagues not  only  upon  "  the  Tucker  bill,"  but  upon  the 
tariff  in  general.  It  was  widely  circulated  in  the 
National  campaign  of  that  year  as  a  campaign  docu- 
ment— peculiar  interest  attaching  to  its  author,  then 
the  Kepublican  candidate  for  the  Presidency. 

On  June  8th,  Mr.  Tucker  reported  a  House  joint  res- 
olution from  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means  rela- 
tive to  the  duty  on  hoop-iron,  which  after  some  objec- 


54  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

tion  was  adopted  on  a  viva  voce  vote.  It  was  reported, 
on  June  10th,  by  the  Finance  Committee  of  the  Senate, 
and  adopted  by  that  body,  again  without  division,  and 
by  the  approval  of  President  Hayes  had  the  force  and 
effect  of  law. 

Pending  the  resolution  for  final  adjournment,  Mr. 
Mills  moved  that  it  be  recommended  to  the  Ways  and 
Means  Committee  with  instructions  to  report  a  bill 
providing  for  the  "  free  importation  of  salt  and  printing- 
paper  before  they  report  a  resolution  for  adjournment.'7 
This  was  disagreed  to — yeas,  90,  all  Democrats  but 
eleven;  nays  116, all  Republicans  but  thirty-one. 

The  discussions  of  the  Senate  were  principally  over 
the  bill  introduced  by  Hon.  William  W.  Eaton,  of 
Connecticut,  "  to  provide  for  the  appointment  of  a  Com- 
mission to  investigate  the  tariff,  a  final  report  to  be 
made  in  January,  1881."  This  was  passed  on  June  3, 
1880,  by  a  vote  of  thirty-one  to  fifteen.  The  affirmative 
vote  was  cast  by  sixteen  Democrats  and  fifteen  Repub- 
licans; the  negative  entirely  by  Democrats.  The  bill 
was  not  considered  by  the  House. 

At  the  third  session  of  this  Congress,  on  December  6, 
1880,  Hon.  Frank  H.  Hurd,  of  Ohio,  offered  a  Hpuse 
joint  resolution  proposing,  to  the  end  that  the  tariff 
should  be  for  revenue  only,  the  following  changes  : 

1.  "  Upon  all  dutiable  articles  producing  little  or  no 
revenue  to  the  Government  the  duty  should  be  returned 
to  a  revenue  basis,  or  they  should  be  placed  on  the  free 
list" 

2.  "  The  duty  on  tea  and  coffee  should  be  restored." 
The  resolution  was  referred  to  the  Ways  and  Means 

Committee,  but   although  subsequently  supported  by 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  65 

Mr.  Hurd  in  a  speech  to  the  House  no  vote  was  taken 
upon  it.  •  , 

On  December  21st,  Hon.  Hiram  Price,  of  Iowa, 
moved  to  suspend  the  rules  of  the  House  and  pass  a 
bill  repealing  the  law  "requiring  stamps  on  bank 
checks."  The  motion  was  lost — yeas  129,  nays  68,  not 
the  requisite  two-thirds  in  the  affirmative.  Seven 
Republicans  voted  with  the  Democrats  in  the  negative.* 

Thus  after  six  years'  agitation  the  situation  as  to  the 
tariff  was  practically  unchanged.  By  the  acts  of  June 
22,  1874,  of  February  8,  and  March  3,  1875,  of  July  1, 

1879,  and  June  14,  1880,  the  Income  Tax  had  been 
abolished,  the  Match  Tax  repealed,  and  various  changes 
made  in    the    assessment  and    collection   of  internal 
revenue,  but  while  this  was  true  the  aggregate  receipts 
from  customs  and  internal  revenue  were  practically  the 
the  same— $265,513,000,  in  1874,  and  $310,531,000,  in 

1880.  Meanwhile  the  country  amid  unexampled  embar- 
rassments had  attained  a  prosperity  greater  than  it  had 
ever  before  enjoyed.     So  great  was  the  prosperity  that 
the  Republican  party,  at  its  National  Convention  at 
Chicago,  in  June,  1880,  could  truthfully  congratulate 
the  people  upon  the  marvelous  success  of  its  fiscal 
policy.     Never  before  could  any  political  organization, 
appealing  to  the  record,  safely  assert  that  its  achieve- 
ments included  such  great   events  as  the  following, 
which  were  enumerated  by  the  platform,  subsequently 
endorsed  by  the  country  : 

*Upon  the 'death  of  Hon.  Fernando  Wood,  February  14,  1881,  Mr. 
Tucker  became  Chairman  of  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee.  Hon. 
James  A.  Garfleld,  of  Ohio,  having  been  elected  to  the  Presidency,  and 
resigned  from  the  House,  Mr.  McKinley,  of  the  same  State,  succeeded  him 
as  a  member  of  this  Committee  in  December,  1880. 


56  THE  TAEIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

"  It  (the  Republican  party)  has  raised  the  value  of 
our  paper  currency  from  thirty-eight  per  cent,  to  the 
par  of  gold.  It  has  restored,  upon  a  solid  basis,  pay- 
ment in  coin  for  all  the  National  obligations,  and  has 
given  us  a  currency  absolutely  good  and  equal  in  every 
part  of  our  extended  country.  It  has  lifted  the  credit 
of  the  Nation  from  the  point  where  six  per  cent,  bonds 
sold  at  eighty-six  to  that  where  four  per  cent,  bonds 
are  eagerly  sought  at  a  premium.  Under  its  administra- 
tion railways  have  increased  from  31,000  miles  in  1860, 
to  more  than  82,000  miles  in  1879.  Our  foreign  trade 
has  increased  from  $700,000,000  to  $1,150,000,000  in 
the  same  time ;  and  our  exports,  which  were  $20,000,- 
000  less  than  our  imports  in  1860  were  $264,000,000 
more  than  our  imports  in  1879.  Without  resorting 
to  loans,  it  has,  since  the  war  closed,  defrayed  the  ordi- 
nary expenses  of  the  Government,  beside  the  accruing 
interest  on  the  public  debt,  and  disbursed  annually 
over  $30,000,000  for  soldiers'  pensions.  It  has  paid 
$888,000,000  of  the  public  debt,  and,  by  refunding  the 
balance  at  lower  rates,  has  reduced  the  annual  interest 
charge  from  nearly  $151,000,000  to  less  than  $89,000,- 
000." 

In  view  of  these  facts  the  Republican  Convention 
declared  "that  the  reviving  industries  should  be  fur- 
ther promoted,  and  that  the  commerce,  already  so 
great,  should  be  steadily  encouraged."  It  also  resolved : 
uWe  reaffirm  the  belief,  avowed  in  1876,  that  the 
duties  levied  for  the  purpose  of  revenue  should  so  dis- 
criminate as  to  favor  American  labor." 

The  Democratic  National  Convention,  at  Cincinnati, 
on  June  22d,  declared  in  favor  of  "  a  tariff  for  revenue 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  57 

only  ; "  and  then,  as  if  in  doubt  as  to  how  its  position 
would  be  construed,  added  this  further  declaration: 
"The  Democratic  party  is  a  friend  of  labor  and  the 
laboring  man,  and  pledges  itself  to  protect  him  alike 
against  the  cormorants  and  the  commune." 

The  tariff  issue  was  destined  to  receive  much  atten- 
tion in  the  ensuing  campaign.  After  the  Republican 
reverse  in  Maine  in  September,  it  was  evident  that 
unless  the  States  of  Indiana  and  Ohio  holding  elec- 
tions in  October  could  be  carried,  defeat  in  the  Nation 
in  November  was  certain.  The  Democratic  declaration 
in  favor  of  "  a  tariff  for  revenue  only  "  was  turned  with 
tremendous  force  against  that  party,  and  proved  of  the 
greatest  advantage  in  carrying  both  these  States  for  the 
Republican  ticket.  The  visit  of  General  Grant  and 
Senator  Conkling  to  Ohio  and  Indiana  was  no  more 
effective  than  the  brilliant  campaign  of  Mr.  Elaine, 
who  devoted  his  efforts  to  a  striking  and  thorough  dis- 
cussion of  the  tariff  issue,  of  which  he  was  so  truly 
"prophet  and  master."  In  the  East,  the  result  in  New 
York  hinged  largely  upon  its  consideration  and  the 
workingmen  of  the  industrial  centers  were  rallied  to 
the  standard  of  protection  in  immense  and  decisive 
numbers.  Indeed,  that  alone  saved  the  State,  and 
secured  the  election  of  the  Republican  National  ticket. 

The  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Forty-seventh 
Congress,  elected  in  1880,  was  Republican  by  seven 
majority,  It  organized  by  electing  Hon.  Joseph  War- 
ren Keifer,  of  Ohio,  Speaker,  who  appointed  Hon. 
William  D.  Kelley,  Chairman  of  the  Ways  and  Means 
Committee.  Neither  party  had  a  majority  in  the 
Senate,  which  consisted  of  thirty-seven  Republicans, 


58  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

thirty-seven  Democrats,  one  Independent  and  one  Read- 
juster.  Hon.  David  Davis,  of  Illinois,  was  elected 
President  pro  tern. 

President  Arthur,  in  his  first  annual  message,  Decem- 
ber 6,  1881,  devoted  a  passage  to  the  tariff.  He  said: 

"The  tariff  laws  also  need  revision,  but,  that  a  due 
regard  may  be  paid  to  the  conflicting  interests  of  our 
citizens,  important  changes  should  be  made  with  cau- 
tion. If  a  careful  revision  can  not  be  made  at  this 
session,  a  Commission,  such  as  was  lately  approved  by 
the  Senate,  and  is  now  recommended  by  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  would  doubtless  lighten  the  labors  of 

Congress  whenever  this  subject  is  brought  to  its  con- 

-*« 

sideration." 

On  March  8,  1882,  Hon.  John  A.  Kasson,  of  Iowa, 
called  up  the  bill,  reported  by  him  for  the  Committee 
on  Ways  and  Means,  to  create  a  Tariff  Commission 
of  nine  members,  to  be  appointed  by  the  President. 
Objections  were  made,  and  it  was  held  not  to  have 
precedence,  although  on  March  20th  Mr.  Kelley  suc- 
ceeded in  having  it  made  a  special  order,  and  it  was 
thereafter  the  subject  of  much  debate.  On  May  6th 
Mr.  Mills  moved  that  it  be  recommitted  to  the  Ways 
and  Means  Committee  "  to  report  within  thirty  days  a 
bill  framed  in  compliance  with  the  following  instruc- 
tions : 

"  1.  That  no  more  money  should  be  collected  than 
is  necessary  for  the  wants  of  the  Government,  econom- 
ically administered.  2.  That  no  duty  be  imposed  on 
any  article  above  the  lowest  rate  that  will  yield  the 
largest  amount  of  revenue.  3.  That  below  such  rate 
discrimination  may  be  made  descending  in  the  scale  of 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  59 

duties,  or  for  imperative  reasons  the  article  may  be 
placed  on  the  list  of  those  free  from  all  duty.  4.  That 
the  maximum  revenue  duty  should  be  imposed  on  lux- 
uries. 5.  That  all  specific  duties  should  be  abolished 
and  ad  valorem  duties  substituted  in  their  place,  care 
being  taken  to  guard  against  fraudulent  invoices  and 
undervaluation,  and  to  assess  the  duty  upon  the  actual 
market  value.  6.  That  the  duty  should  be  so  imposed 
as  to  operate  as  equally  as  possible  throughout  the 
Union,  discriminating  neither  for  nor  against  any  class 
or  section." 

This  resolution  embraced  the  creed  of  Mr.  Mills  and  his 
fellow  "  tariff-  reformers,"  both  in  Congress  and  through- 
out the  country,  but  it  is  safe  to  say  no  tariff  bill  ever 
wa#  or  could  be  drawn  to  meet  his  conditions.  The  House 
defeated  the  motion  to  recommit  by  the  vote,  yeas,  75 — 
all  Democrats ;  nays,  152 — all  Republicans  but  twenty- 
nine,  six  Nationalists  and  twenty-three  Democrats. 

The  bill  to  create  the  Commission  was  then  passed 
by  a  similar  vote — yeas,  151 ;  nays,  83.  Seven  Re- 
publicans voted  with  the  Democrats  in  the  negative, 
and  twenty-six  Democrats  and  five  Nationalists  with 
the  Republicans  in  the  afiirrnative. 

The  Senate  passed  this  bill  with  but  little  opposition. 
A  similar  measure,  by  Mr.  Morrill,  had,  in  fact,  been 
introduced  in  the  Senate  on  December  5,  1881,  and 
passed  on  March  28,  1882,  by  a  vote  of  38  to  15.  The 
House  bill  was  passed  on  May  9th — yeas,  35,  all  Re- 
publicans but  six;  nays  19,  all  Democrats  but  two. 
It  was  approved  by  President  Arthur  on  May  15th, 
and  the  following  gentlemen  were  appointed  by  him 
to  constitute  the  Tariff  Commission,  all  of  whom  were 


60  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

promptly  confirmed  by  the  Senate :  John  L.  Hayes,  of 
Massachusetts,  Chairman ;  Henry  W.  Oliver,  Jr.,  of  Penn- 
sylvania; Austin  M.  Garland,  of  Illinois;  Jacob  A. 
Ambler,  of  Ohio ;  Robert  P.  Porter,  of  the  District  of 
Columbia ;  John  W.  H.  Underwood,  of  Georgia ;  Dun- 
can F.  Kenner,  of  Louisiana ;  Alexander  R.  Boteler,  of 
West  Virginia,  and  William  H.  McMahon,  of  New  York. 

At  this  session,  on  April  3rd,  the  House,  under  the 
leadership  of  Hon.  Mark  H.  Dunnell,  of  Minnesota, 
passed,  without  division,  a  bill  to  amend  the  laws  relat- 
ing "to  the  entry  of  spirits  in  distilleries  and  ware- 
houses, and  their  withdrawal  therefrom."  A  substitute 
was  reported,  by  the  Committee  on  Finance,  in  the 
Senate,  but  this  was  indefinitely  postponed  by  a  vote  of 
thirty-two  to  twenty. 

On  June  5th  Hon.  Phillip  B.  Thompson,  of  Ken- 
tucky, moved  to  suspend  the  rules  of  the  House  and 
pass  a  bill  "to  abolish  the  duty  on  trace-chains,"  but 
the  motion  was  lost — yeas,  73;  nays,  108.  On  the 
same  day  Mr.  Kelley  attempted  to  secure  a  suspension 
and  the  passage  of  a  bill  correcting  an  error  in  the 
duties  on  ready-made  clothing  and  knit  goods,  affecting 
the  tariff  on  wool  and  silk.  His  motion,  too,  was  lost — 
yeas,  135;  nays,  70 — not  two-thirds  in  the  affirmative. 

The  most  important  measure  before  Congress  at  this 
session,  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events,  however,  was 
a  bill  to  reduce  internal  revenue  taxation,  which  was 
passed  in  the  House  on  June  27th,  by  a  vote  of  127  to 
80.  Twenty-two  Democrats  united  with  the  Repub- 
licans in  support  of  this  measure,  and  fifteen  Repub- 
licans voted  with  the  Democrats  against  it.  In  the 
Senate  the  bill  was  reported,  on  July  6th,  but  was 


OF  HENEY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  61 

recommitted  to  the  Finance  Committee,  and  when 
reported  by  Mr.  Morrill,  on  July  12th,  contained 
numerous  important  amendments.  Its  title  was  changed 
to  "an  act  to  reduce  taxation,"  and  the  changes  included 
a  revision  of  tariff  schedules  as  well  as  internal  taxes. 
It  was  debated  at  length,  from  July  19th  to  24th,  when 
the  Senate  voted — by  33  to  26 — to  take  up  the  Naval 
Appropriation  Bill,  and  so  it  went  over  until  the  next 
session.  On  July  31st,  pending  consideration  of  the 
Naval  Bill,  Mr.  Vance,  of  frorth  Carolina,  moved  to 
strike  the  words  "  of  domestic  manufacture  "  from  the 
clause  providing  for  the  construction  of  "two  steel 
steam  cruising  vessels  of  war" — thereby  permitting 
them  to  be  built  of  foreign  steel,  if  the  Government 
should  so  determine.  The  motion  was  defeated — yeas 
20,  all  Democrats ;  nays  30,  all  Republicans  but  five. 

On  July  3rd,  Mr.  Kelley  moved  to  suspend  the  rules 
of  the  House  and  take  up  the  bill  introduced  January 
20th  by  Hon.  John  R.  Buck,  of  Connecticut,  to 
correct  an  error  affecting  the  duty  on  knit  goods. 
This  was  agreed  to  and  the  bill  was  passed — yeas, 
134 ;  nays,  49.  Three  Republicans  voted  with  the 
Democrats  in  the  negative,  while  twenty-one  Demo- 
crats voted  for  the  bill.  It  was  passed  by  the  Senate, 
on  August  5th, — yeas  36,  all  Republicans  but  seven  ; 
nays  15  all  Democrats — and  was  promptly  approved 
by  the  President. 

On  July  25th  the  bill  by  Mr.  Kasson  relative  to  the 
duties  "  on  materials  for  the  construction  of  vessels,  " 
over  which  there  had  been  much  debate,  was  recom- 
mitted to  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means — yeas 
(Republicans),  100 ;  nays  (Democrats),  71. 


62  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

In  bis  second  annual  message,  December  4,  1882, 
President  Arthur  made  the  following  recommendations 
on  the  tariff :  "  If  the  tax  on  domestic  spirits  is  to  be 
retained,  it  is  plain,  therefore,  that  large  reductions  from 
the  custom  revenue  are  entirely  feasible.  While  recom- 
mending this  reduction,  I  am  far  from  advising  the 
abandonment  of  the  policy  of  so  discriminating  in  the 
adjustment  of  details  as  to  afford  aid  and  protection 
to  domestic  labor." 

At  the  beginning  of  the  second  session  of  the  Forty- 
seventh  Congress,  the  Tariff  Commission  submitted  an 
exhaustive  report  to  the  House,  with  the  volume  of 
testimony  it  had  taken  on  the  industrial  conditions  and 
needs  of  the  country.  During  the  recess  of  Congress 
the  Commission  had  made  a  thorough  investigation  of 
our  various  manufacturing  interests,  endeavoring  to 
ascertain  in  what  manner  and  how  far  the  tariff  could 
be  reduced  without  inflicting  damage  or  distress  upon 
any  important  line  of  manufactures,  or  great  interest  of 
industry,  with  a  view  to  preserving  intact  our  protective 
system,  and  preventing  ruinous  competition  with  foreign 
labor.  It  had  visited  all  our  great  industrial  centers 
and  by  conscientious,  careful  and  impartial  work  was 
enabled  to  submit  a  most  valuable  report.  From  it  the 
Committee  on  Ways  and  Means  of  the  House  formu- 
lated and  reported  a  bill  reducing  existing  duties  about 
twenty  per  cent.  The  Commission's  schedules  were 
largely  followed  ;  some  increases  were  made,  but,  in  the 
large  majority  of  cases,  where  any  deviation  was  made, 
it  was  in  the  direction  of  a  reduction  of  the  duties,  and 
not  of  increase.  It  was  estimated  that  the  new  bill,  on 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  63 

the  basis  of  the  importations  of  1882,  would  decrease 
the  revenue  about  $22,000,000. 

The  bill  was  reported  by  Mr.  Kelley,  on  January 
16th,  and  debated  until  January  25th,  many  amend- 
ments being  agreed  to.  On  the  25th  the  House  voted 
on  the  question  of  giving  preference  to  the  consideration 
of  the  Internal  Revenue  Bill,  and  decided  against  it — 
yeas  100,  all  Democrats;  nays  147,  all  Republicans, 
except  eighteen.  On  February  19th,  Mr.  Kelley  at- 
tempted to  obtain  a  suspension  of  the  rules  and  secure 
the  consideration  of  an  internal  revenue  bill  as  an  inde- 
pendent measure.  But  this  was  not  agreed  to  by  the 
requisite  two-thirds  majority — the  vote  resulting,  yeas 
162,  forty-six  Democrats  voting  with  the  Republicans ; 
nays  97,  nineteen  Republicans  and  Nationalists  voting 
with  the  Democrats. 

Meanwhile  the  Senate  passed  the  Internal  Revenue 
Bill  (which  the  House  had  passed  during  the  first  ses- 
sion), but  not  until  after  it  had  made  such  amendments 
as  to  virtually  revise  the  entire  tariff.  The  bill  had  been 
recommitted  in  December,  1882,  to  the  Committee  on 
Finance,  and  on  January  11, 1883,  was  reported  by  Mr. 
Morrill,  and  its  consideration  continued  until  February 
20th,  when  the  bill  was  passed — yeas  42,  all  Repub- 
licans except  eleven;  nays  19,  all  Democrats  but  one. 

When  this  bill  reached  the  House,  Hon.  Thomas  B. 
Reed,  of  Maine,  on  February  26th,  reported  a  new  rule 
in  order  to  secure  its  consideration.  Mr.  Carlisle  raised 
the  question  of  priority,  but  the  House  agreed  to  con- 
sider the  rule  by  a  vote  of  134  to  125,  and  after  a 
protracted  parliamentary  contest  the  rule  was  adopted, 
and  the  bill  was  taken  up.  On  February  27th  a  motion 


64=  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

by  Mr.  Kelley  to  noil-concur  in  the  Senate  amendments 
and  ask  for  a  Committee  of  Conference  was  agreed  to — 
yeas,  147;  nays,  111.  The  Speaker  announced  as  con- 
ferees on  part  of  the  House,  Messrs.  Kelley,  McKinley, 
Haskell,  Randall  and  Carlisle.  Mr.  Randall  asked  to 
to  be  excused,  and  after  Mr.  Morrison  and  Mr.  Tucker 
had  also  declined  to  serve,  Mr.  Speer,  of  Georgia,  was 
appointed.  The  Senate  appointed  as  its  conferees 
Messrs.  Sherman,  Aldrich,  Beck  and  Bayard.  The  two 
latter  asked  to  be  excused,  and  after  various  appoint- 
ments by  the  Chair  from  among  the  Democratic  mem- 
bers, all  of  whom  declined  to  serve,  Messrs.  McDill, 
of  Iowa,  and  Mahone,  of  Virginia,  were  selected.  This 
was  on  March  1st,  so  that  the  session  was  within  two 
days  of  its  close.  On  March  3rd  the  Committee  of  Con- 
ference reported,  agreeing  on  the  passage  of  the  bill, 
and  this  report  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  152  to  116. 
Eighteen  Democrats  voted  with  the  Republicans  in  the 
affirmative ;  fourteen  Republicans  with  the  Democrats 
in  the  negative.  The  members  from  the  New  England 
States  voted  almost  unanimously  for  it — twenty-four  to 
one ;  those  from  the  Middle  States,  for  it  by  forty-nine 
to  twenty-two;  from  the  West,  for  it  by  sixty-one  to 
thirty-three;  from  the  South,  against  it  by  fifteen  to 
fifty-seven ;  and  from  the  Pacific  States,  neither  for  nor 
against  it,  by  three  to  three.  A  great  objection  to 
the  bill,  from  an  agricultural  standpoint,  was  the 
heavy  reduction  on  wool,  and  this  caused  a  majority  of 
the  Ohio  delegation,  although  three  to  one  Republican, 
to  vote  against  it.  President  Arthur  gave  it  his  imme- 
diate approval,  and  it  went  into  effect  on  July  1,  1883. 
The  House  of  Representatives  was  strongly  Demo- 


*     OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  65 

cratic  in  the  Forty-eighth  Congress,  that  party  having 
elected  196  of  the  325  members.  It  organized  by  elect- 
ing Mr.  Carlisle,  of  Kentucky,  Speaker,  and  by  his 
appointment  Mr.  Morrison  became  Chairman  of  the 
Ways  and  Means  Committee,  although  Mr.  Randall  had 
been  the  ranking  Democratic  member  in  the  previous 
Congress. 

On  March  11, 1884,  Mr.  Morrison  reported  a  bill  uto 
reduce  import  and  war  tariff  taxes,"  providing  a  hori- 
zontal reduction  of  twenty  per  cent,  upon  the  list  of 
dutiable  articles,  except  those  embraced  in  two  schedules 
— spirits  and  silks.  It  enlarged  the  free  list  by  exempt- 
ing from  duty  salt,  timber,  and  certain  products  of  wool. 
On  April  15th,  the  House,  then  in  Committee  of  the 
Whole,  on  revenue  measures,  voted — by  140  to  138 — 
to  take  up  this  bill.  General  debate  continued  from 
day  to  day  until  May  6th,  when  a  motion  by  Hon. 
George  L.  Converse,  of  Ohio,  to  "  strike  out  the  enact- 
ing clause"  was  agreed  to — yeas,  156;  nays,  151.  In 
this  action  the  House  concurred  by  a  vote  of  159  to 
155.  But  two  Republicans  voted  with  the  Democrats 
in  the  negative,  while  forty-one  Democrats  and  three 
Nationalists,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Randall,  united 
with  the  Republicans  to  defeat  the  bill. 

On  April  7th,  Mr.  Converse  moved  to  suspend  the 
rules  and  pass  a  bill  "  to  restore  the  rates  of  duty  on 
imported  wool."  This  had  been  demanded  by  the  plat- 
forms of  both  parties  in  Ohio,  and  by  a  joint  resolution 
unanimously  adopted  by  the  Sixty-sixth  General  Assem- 
bly of  Ohio,  on  January  23,  1884.  After  a  brief  debate 
the  motion  was  disagreed  to — yeas,  119  ;  nays,  126 — 
not  the  requisite  two-thirds  in  the  affirmative.  It 


66  THE  TABIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

secured  the  support  of  seventy-nine  Republicans  and 
forty  Democrats,  and  was  opposed  by  twelve  Repub- 
licans and  one  hundred  and  fourteen  Democrats.  Every 
Ohio  member  voting,  except  one,  gave  it  his  support. 
Mr.  Randall  favored  the  motion,  but  it  was  strenuously 
opposed  by  Messrs.  Morrison,  Mills,  Blount,  Breck en- 
ridge,  Cox,  Hurd,  and  other  active  "  tariff  reformers." 

On  the  same  day  the  House  adopted  a  resolution  by 
Mr.  Thompson,  of  Kentucky,  declaring  "  it  unwise  and 
inexpedient  for  the  present  Congress  to  abolish  or  re- 
duce the  tax  upon  spirits  distilled  from  grain  " — yeas, 
179;  nays,  33.  Later  in  the  session,  on  June  21st,  Mr. 
Tucker,  of  Virginia,  moved  that  the  House  "go  into 
Committee  of  the  Whole  to  take  up  revenue  bills,"  the 
pending  measure  being  a  bill  "  to  repeal  the  tax  on  fruit 
brandies."  This  was  agreed  to — yeas,  95;  nays,  119 — 
and  a  similar  motion  was  defeated,  on  July  3rd,  by  80 
to  132. 

On  May  19th,  Mr.  Hurd  moved  to  suspend  the  rules 
and  "  abolish  the  discriminating  duty  on  works  of  art 
— the  production  of  foreign  and  of  American  artists." 
This  was  disagreed  to — yeas,  52;  nays,  178 — but  the 
vote  was  not  on  party  lines. 

The  House,  on  the  same  day,  passed  without  division 
a  bill  "to  prohibit  the  importation  of  contract  labor," 
but  it  was  not  considered  by  the  Senate  at  this  session. 
Constitutional  amendments  were  offered  in  the  House 
by  Hon.  William  H.  Fiedler,  of  New  Jersey,  "  on  prison 
labor,"  and  by  Hon.  Robert  T.  Davis,  of  Massachusetts, 
"  on  the  hours  of  labor  in  textile-fabric  manufactories/' 
but  neither  was  adopted. 

At  the  Republican  National  Convention  of  1884  the 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  67 

platform  reported  by  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  was 
unanimously  adopted.  Four  of  its  planks  were  devoted 
to  the  tariff,  as  follows : 

4.  It  is  the  first  duty  of  a  good  government  to  pro- 
tect the  rights  and  promote  the  interests  of  its  own 
people.     The  largest  diversity  of  industry  is  the  most 
productive  of  general  prosperity,  and  of  the  comfort  and 
independence  of  the  people.    We  therefore  demand  that 
the  imposition  of  duties  on  foreign  imports  shall  be 
made,  not  for  revenue  only,  but  that  in  raising  the 
requisite  revenues  for  the  Government,  such  duty  shall 
be  so  levied  as  to   afford  security  to   our  diversified 
industries  and  protection  to  the  rights  and  wages  of  the 
laborer;  to  the  end  that  active  and  intelligent  labor,  as 
well  as  capital,  may  have  its  just  reward,  and  the  labor- 
ing man  his  full  share  in  the  National  prosperity. 

5.  Against  the  so-called  economic  system  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  which  would  degrade   our  labor  to  the 
foreign  standard,  we  enter  our  most  earnest  protest. 
The  Democratic  party  has  failed  completely  to  relieve 
the  people  of  the  burden  of  unnecessary  taxation  by  a 
wise  reduction  of  the  surplus. 

6.  The  Republican  party  pledges  itself  to  correct  the 
irregularities  of  the  tariff  and  to  reduce  the  surplus,  not 
by  the  vicious  and  indiscriminating  process  of  horizon- 
tal reduction,  but  by  such  methods  as  will  relieve  the 
taxpayer  without  injuring  the  laborer  or  the  great  pro- 
ductive interests  of  the  country. 

7.  We  recognize  the  importance  of  sheep-husbandry 
in  the  United  States,  the  serious  depression  which  it  is 
now  experiencing,  and  the  danger  threatening  its  future 
prosperity;  and  we  therefore  respect  the  demands  of 


68  THE  TAKIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

the  representatives  of  this  important  agricultural  inter- 
est for  a  readjustment  of  duties  upon  foreign  wool,  in 
order  that  such  industry  shall  have  full  and  adequate 
protection. 

Hon.  James  G.  Elaine,  of  Maine,  in  his  letter  of 
acceptance  of  the  Republican  nomination  for  the  Presi- 
dency, dated  at  Augusta,  July  15,  1884,  discussed  the 
tariff  question  with  .his  accustomed  vigor  and  brilliancy. 
He  said : 

"  Revenue  laws  are  in  their  rery  nature  subject  to 
frequent  revision,  in  order  that  they  may  be  adapted  to 
changes  and  modifications  of  trade.  The  Republican 
party  is  not  contending  for  the  permanency  of  any  par- 
ticular statute.  The  issue  between  the  two  parties  does 
not  have  reference  to  a  specific  law.  It  is  far  broader 
and  far  deeper.  It  involves  a  principle  of  wide  appli- 
cation and  beneficent  influence  against  a  theory  which 
we  believe  to  be  unsound  in  conception  and  inevitably 
hurtful  in  practice.  In  the  many  tariff  revisions  which 
have  been  necessary  for  the  past  twenty-three  years,  or 
which  may  hereafter  become  necessary,  the  Republican 
party  has  maintained  and  will  maintain  the  policy  of 
protection  to  American  industry,  while  our  opponents 
insist  upon  a  revision  which  practically  destroys  that 
policy.  The  issue  is  thus  distinct,  well-defined,  and 
unavoidable.  The  pending  election  may  determine  the 
fate  of  protection  for  a  generation.  The  overthrow  of 
the  policy  means  a  large  and  permanent  reduction  in 
the  wages  of  the  American  laborer  besides  involving 
the  loss  of  vast  amounts  of  American  capital  invested 
in  manufacturing  enterprises.  The  value  of  the  pres- 
ent revenue  system  to  the  people  of  the  United  States 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  69 

is  not  a  matter  of  theory,  and  I  shall  submit  no  argu- 
ment to  sustain  it.  I  only  invite  attention  to  certain 
facts  of  official  record  which  seem  to  constitute  a 
demonstration. 

"In  the  Census  of  1850  an  effort  was  made,  for  the 
first  time  in  our  history,  to  obtain  a  valuation  of  all  the 
property  in  the  United  States.  The  attempt  was  in  a 
large  degree  unsuccessful.  Partly -from  lack  of  time, 
partly  from  prejudice  from  many  who  thought  the 
inquiries  foreshadowed  a  new  scheme  of  taxation,  the 
returns  were  incomplete  and  unsatisfactory.  Little 
more  was  done  than  to  consolidate  the  local  valuation 
used  in  the  States  for  purposes  of  assessment,  and  that, 
as  everybody  knows,  differs  widely  from  a  complete 
exhibit  of  all  the  property. 

"In  the  Census  of  1860,  however,  the  work  was  done 
with  great  thoroughness  —  the  distinction  between 
'  assessed '  value  and  '  true '  value  being  carefully 
observed.  The  grand  result  was  that  the  '  true  value ' 
of  all  the  property  in  the  States  and  Territories  (exclud- 
ing slaves)  amounted  to  $14,000,000,000.  This  aggre- 
gate was  the  net  result  of  the  labor  and  savings  of  all 
the  people  within  the  area  of  the  United  States  from 
the  time  the  first  British  colonist  landed  in  1607  down 
to  the  year  1860.  It  represented  the  fruit  of  the  toil 
of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years. 

"After  1860  the  business  of  the  country  was  encour- 
aged and  developed  by  a  protective  tariff.  At  the  end 
of  twenty  years  the  total  property  of  the  United  States, 
as  returned  by  the  Census  of  1880,  amounted  to  the 
enormous  aggregate  of  $44,000,000,000.  This  great 
result  was  attained  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 


70  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

countless  millions  had  in  the  interval  been  wasted  in 
the  progress  of  a  bloody  war.  It  thus  appears  that 
while  our  population  between  1860  and  1880  increased 
sixty  per  cent.,  the  aggregate  property  of  the  country 
increased  two  hundred  and  fourteen  per  cent.,  showing 
a  vastly  enhanced  wealth  per  capita  among  the  people. 
Thirty  thousand  millions  of  dollars  had  been  added 
during  these  twenty  years  to  the  present  wealth  of  the 
Nation. 

"These  results  are  regarded  by  the  older  nations  of 
the  world  as  phenomenal.  That  our  country  should 
surmount  the  peril  and  the  cost  of  a  gigantic  war,  and 
for  an  entire  period  of  twenty  years  make  an  average 
gain  to  its  wealth  of  $125,000,000  per  month,  surpasses 
the  experience  of  all  other  nations,  ancient  or  modern. 
Even  the  opponents  of  the  present  revenue  system  do 
not  pretend  that  in  the  whole  history  of  civilization 
any  parallel  can  be  found  to  the  National  progress  of 
the  United  States  since  the  accession  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  to  power. 

"  The  period  between  1860  and  to-day  has  not  been 
one  of  material  prosperity  only.  At  no  time  in  the 
history  of  the  United  States  has  there  been  such 
progress  in  the  moral  and  philanthropic  field.  Reli- 
gious and  charitable  institutions,  schools,  seminaries 
and  colleges,  have  been  founded  and  endowed  far 
more  generously  than  at  any  previous  time  in  our 
history.  Greater  and  more  varied  relief  has  been 
extended  to  human  suffering,  and  the  entire  progress 
of  the  country  in  wealth  has  been  accompanied  and 
dignified  by  a  broadening  and  elevation  of  our  National 
character  as  a  people." 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  71 

"  Our  opponents  find  fault  that  our  revenue  system 
produces  a  surplus.  But  they  should  not  forget  that 
the  law  has  given  a  specific  purpose  to  which  all  of  the 
surplus  is  profitably  and  honorably  applied  —  the 
reduction  of  the  public  debt,  and  the  consequent  relief 
of  the  burden  of  taxation.  No  dollar  has  been  wasted, 
and  the  only  extravagance  with  which  the  party  stands 
charged  is  the  generous  pensioning  of  soldiers,  sailors, 
and  their  families — an  extravagance  which  embodies 
the  highest  form  of  justice  in  the  recognition  and 
payment  of  a  sacred  debt.  When  reduction  of  taxation 
is  to  be  made,  the  Kepublican  party  can  be  trusted 
to  accomplish  it  in  such  form  as  will  most  effectively 
aid  the  industries  of  the  Nation." 

At  the  Democratic  National  Convention  of  1884  the 
platform  was  adopted  without  division,  after  the  rejec- 
tion of  a  minority  report  offered  by  General  Benjamin 
F.  Butler,  of  Massachusetts,  by  the  test  vote  714  to  97. 
The  planks  relating  to  the  tariff  were  as  follows : 

3.  The  Democracy  pledges  itself  to  purify  the 
Administration  from  corruption,  to  restore  economy, 
to  revive  respect  for  law,  and  to  reduce  taxation  to  the 
lowest  limit  consistent  with  due  regard  to  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  faith  of  the  Nation  to  its  creditors  and 
pensioners.  Knowing  full  well,  however,  that  legislation 
affecting  the  operations  of  the  people  should  be  cautious 
and  conservative  in  method,  not  in  advance  of  public 
opinion,  but  responsive  to  its  demands,  the  Democratic 
party  is  pledged  to  revise  the  tariff  in  a  spirit  of  fairness 
to  all  interests.  But,  in  making  reduction  in  taxes,  it  is 
not  proposed  to  injure  any  domestic  industries,  but 
rather  to  promote  their  healthy  growth.  From  the 


72  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

foundation  of  this  Government  taxes  collected  at  the 
Custom  Houses  have  been  the  chief  source  of  Federal 
revenue.  Such  they  must  continue  to  be.  Moreover, 
many  industries  have  come  to  rely  upon  legislation  for 
successful  continuance,  so  that  any  change  of  law  must 
be  at  every  step  regardful  of  the  labor  and  capital  thus 
involved.  The  process  of  the  reform  must  be  subject 
in  the  execution  to  this  plain  dictate  of  justice — all 
taxation  shall  be  limited  to  the  requirements  of 
economical  government.  The  necessary  reduction  in 
taxation  can  and  must  be  effected  without  depriving 
American  labor  of  the  ability  to  compete  successfully 
with  foreign  labor,  and  without  imposing  lower  rates  of 
duty  than  will  be  ample  to  cover  any  increased  cost  of 
production  which  may  exist  in  consequence  of  the 
higher  rate  of  wages  prevailing  in  this  country. 
Sufficient  revenue  to  pay  all  the  expenses  of  the  Federal 
government  economically  administered,  including  pen- 
sions, interest,  and  principal  of  the  public  debt,  can  be 
had  under  our  present  system  of  taxation  from  Custom 
House  taxes  upon  fewer  imported  articles,  bearing 
heaviest  on  articles  of  luxury,  and  bearing  lightest 
on  articles  of  necessity.  We  therefore  denounce  the 
abuses  of  the  existing  tariff;  and  subject  to  the 
preceding  limitations,  we  demand  that  Federal  taxation 
shall  be  exclusively  for  public  purposes,  and  shall  not 
exceed  the  needs  of  the  Government  economically 
administered. 

4.  The  system  of  direct  taxation  known  as  the  "in- 
ternal revenue "  is  a  war  tax,  and  so  long  as  the  law 
continues  the  money  derived  therefrom  should  be 
sacredly  devoted  to  the  relief  of  the  people  from  the 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  73 

remaining  burdens  of  the  war,  and  be  made  a  fund  to 
defray  the  expense  of  the  care  and  comfort  of  worthy 
soldiers  in  line  of  duty  in  the  wars  of  the  Republic,  and 
for  the  payment  of  such  pensions  as  Congress  may  from 
time  to  time  grant  to  such  soldiers,  a  like  fund  for  the 
sailors  having  been  already  provided ;  and  any  surplus 
should  be  paid  into  the  Treasury. 

Hon.  Grovei*  Cleveland,  of  New  York,  the  Democratic 
candidate  for  President,  in  his  letter  of  acceptance,  dated 
at  Albany,  August  18,  1884,  made  no  reply  to  the  ar- 
gument of  Mr.  Blaine  that  our  unparalleled  progress  as 
a  Nation  was  in  great  measure  due  to  the  protective  sys- 
tem He  merely  recited  the  fact  that  "true  American 
sentiment  recognizes  the  dignity  of  labor,  and  that 
honor  lies  in  honest  toil."  There  was  a  marked  absence 
of  all  reference  to  the  economic  policy  which  at  that 
time  was  becoming  so  direct  an  issue  between  the  two 
great  parties. 

Both  parties  entered  upon  the  campaign  with  earnest- 
ness and  enthusiasm,  but  while  the  Republicans  car- 
ried most  of  the  great  States  of  the  North  by  decisive 
pluralities,  they  failed  in  the  pivotal  States  of  Indiana 
and  New  York,  and  Mr.  Cleveland  was  elected.  Had 
any  one  of  a  number  of  misfortunes  been  averted  in  the 
State  of  New  York,  where  the  result  hinged  upon  1,047 
votes  in  a  total  of  1,171,312,  its  electoral  vote  would 
have  been  cast  for  Mr.  Blaine,  thereby  securing  his 
election.  It  is  not  our  purpose  to  inquire  into  the 
causes  of  Mr.  Blaine's  defeat,  but  it  was  in  no  sense  due 
to  his  masterly  advocacy  of  the  doctrine  of  protection, 
for  in  New  Jersey,  New  York,  Connecticut,  and  other 
States,  the  leading  orators  of  the  Democratic  party 


74  THE  TARIFF.  IN  THE  DAYS 

aimed  constantly  to  show  that  their  party  and  candi- 
dates were  as  firmly  committed  to  its  support  as  the 
Republicans. 

The  House  of  Representatives  in  the  Forty- ninth 
Congress,  elected  in  1884,  was  strongly  Democratic — 
that  party  electing  one  hundred  and  eighty-four  of  the 
three  hundred  and  twenty-five  members.  Mr.  Car- 
lisle was  elected  Speaker,  and  Mr.  Morrison  appointed 
Chairman  of  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee.  The 
Senate  was  Republican,  by  forty-two  of  the  seventy-six 
members.  Hon.  John  Sherman,  of  Ohio,  was  elected 
President  pro  tern.,  and  Mr.  Morrill,  of  Vermont,  ap- 
pointed Chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee. 


CHAPTER  III. 

In  his  last  annual  message  to  Congress,  on  December 
1,  1884,  President  Arthur  again  recommended  "  the  ab- 
olition of  all  excise  taxes  except  those  relating  to  dis- 
tilled spirits."  On  February  18,  1885,  the  Senate 
passed  the  bill,  as  amended,  which  had  passed  the 
House  at  the  first  session,  "  to  prohibit  the  importation 
of  foreign  contract  labor."  The  amendments  were  con- 
curred in  by  the  House,  without  division,  on  February 
23rd,  and  the  law  was  approved  by  the  President  on 
the  26th.  This  ended  a  long  and  somewhat  acrimonious 
contest  in  favor  of  the  position  assumed  by  the  friends 
of  protection. 

In  his  inaugural  address  of  March  4,  1885,  Mr.  Cleve- 
land demanded  that  our  finances  should  be  "  established 
upon  such  a  sound  and  sensible  basis  as  shall  secure  the 
safety  and  confidence  of  business  interests  and  make 
the  wages  of  labor  sure  and  steady ;  and  that  our  system 
of  revenue  shall  be  so  adjusted  as  to  relieve  the  people 
from  unnecessary  taxation,  having  a  due  regard  to  the 


76  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

interests  of  capital  invested  and  workingmen  employed 
in  American  industries,  and  preventing  the  accumula- 
tion of  a  surplus  in  the  Treasury  to  tempt  extravagance 
and  waste." 

There  was  nothing  in  this  to  indicate  a  departure  from 
the  position  of  any  of  his  Republican  predecessors. 

Again,  in  his  first  annual  message  to  Congress,  on 
December  8,  1885,  he  said : 

"  The  fact  that  our  revenues  are  in  excess  of  the  act- 
ual needs  of  an  economical  administration  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, justifies  a  reduction  in  the  amount  exacted 
from  the  people  for  its  support.  Our  Government  is 
but  the  means  established  by  the  will  of  a  free  people^ 
by  which  certain  principles  are  applied  which  they 
have  adopted  for  their  benefit  and  protection ;  and  it 
is  never  better  administrated,  and  its  true  spirit  is  never 
better  observed,  than  when  the  people's  taxation  for  its 
support  is  scrupulously  limited  to  the  actual  necessity 
of  expenditure,  and  distributed  according  to  a  just  and 
equitable  plan.  The  proposition  with  which  we 
have  to  deal  is  the  reduction  of  the  revenue  received  by 
the  Government,  and  indirectly  paid  by  the  people 
from  customs  dues.  The  question  of  free  trade  is  not 
involved,  nor  is  there  now  any  occasion  for  the  general 
discussion  of  the  wisdom  or  expediency  of  a  protective 
system.  Justice  and  fairness  dictate  that  in  any  modi- 
fication of  our  present  laws  relating  to  revenue,  the  in. 
dustries  and  interests  which  have  been  encouraged  by 
such  laws,  and  in  which  our  citizens  have  large  invest- 
ments, should  not  be  ruthlessly  injured  or  destroyed. 

"  We  should  also  deal  with  the  subject  in  such  manner 
as  to  protect  the  interests  of  American  labor,  which  ia 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  77 

the  capital  of  our  workingmen  ;  its  stability  and  proper 
remuneration  furnish  the  most  justifiable  pretext  for  a 
protective  policy.  Within  these  limitations  a  certain 
reduction  should  be  made  in  our  customs  revenue.  The 
amount  of  such  reduction  having  been  determined,  the 
inquiry  follows,  where  can  it  best  be  remitted  and  what 
articles  can  best  be  released  from  duty,  in  the  interest 
of  our  citizens.  I  think  the  reduction  should  be  made 
in  the  revenue  derived  from  a  tax  upon  the  imported 
necessaries  of  life.  We  thus  directly  lessen  the  cost  of 
living  in  every  family  of  the  land,  and  release  to  the 
people  in  every  humble  home  a  larger  measure  of  the 
rewards  of  frugal  industry." 

On  February  15,  1886,  Mr.  Morrison  introduced  a 
bill  "  to  reduce  tariff  taxes  "  which  was  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  and  by  it  favorably 
recommended,  as  amended,  on  April  12th.  By  this 
measure,  timber,  sawed  boards,  hubs,  staves,  lath, 
shingles,  clapboards,  logs,  salt,  fish,  wool,  flax,  tow, 
hemp,  jute  and  sisal-grass  were  placed  upon  the  free 
list,  subject  to  the  condition  that  no  export  duty  should 
be  charged  upon  them  by  the  country  from  whence 
imported.  The  duties  on  cotton  cloth,  thread,  cord, 
stockings,  laces,  embroideries,  flax,  hemp,  and  jute- 
yarns,  linens,  cables  or  cordage,  woolen  cloth,  shawls, 
flannels,  blankets,  yarns,  clothing  of  all  sorts,  carpets, 
and  a  great  variety  of  similar  domestic  products,  were 
largely  reduced,  and  the  duty  on  sugar  decreased  ten 
per  cent.  The  bill  also  included  certain  modifications 
of  the  administrative  features  of  the  law  of  1883,  which 
had  originally  been  offered  as  a  separate  measure  by 
Hon.  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  of  New  York. 


78  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

On  June  17th,  Mr.  Morrison  moved  that  the  House 
resolve  itself  into  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  for  the 
consideration  of  this,  the  general  tariff  bill,  but  his 
motion  was  lost — yeas,  140 ;  nays,  157.  The  affirma- 
tive vote  was  cast  entirely  by  Democrats  except  four. 
The  negative  vote  included  thirty-five  Democrats,  while 
thirteen  Democrats  and  fourteen  Republicans  were 
either  paired  or  did  not  vote.  The  opposition  forces 
in  the  Democratic  ranks  were  led  by  Mr.  Randall  to 
whose  influence  the  summary  defeat  of  the  bill  was 
largely  attributed. 

On  June  28th,  Mr.  Randall  introduced  a  bill  in- 
tended as  a  compromise  between  the  existing  law  and 
the  reduction  of  duties  already  attempted.  It  was 
estimated  by  its  author  that  this  bill  would  reduce 
internal  revenue  taxes  $26,407,088 ;  customs  duties  on 
articles  still  left  dutiable,  $7,044,452 ;  and  add  to  the 
free  list  articles  which  paid  a  duty  of  $1,526,124  an- 
nually, or  a  total  reduction  of  $34,977,665.  The  Com- 
mittee on  Ways  and  Means  reported  this  bill  adversely, 
on  July  10th,  and  this  ended  all  attempts  at  tariff 
changes  for  the  session. 

The  Labor  Arbitration  Bill  which  had  passed  the 
House  on  April  3,  1886,  was  passed  by  the  Senate  on 
February  28,  1887,  without  amendment,  or  division, 
but  failed  to  become  a  law  because  it  was  not  acted 
upon  by  the  President.  On  the  same  day  the  Senate 
passed,  without  opposition,  the  bill  to  prohibit  the 
employment  of  convict  labor  in  the  erection  or  con- 
struction of  public  buildings,  or  other  public  works, 
or  in  the  preparation  of  materials  to  be  used  in  such 
buildings  or  works,  which  had  passed  the  House  on 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  79 

March  9,  1886.  This  also  failed  by  reason  of  Presi- 
dent Cleveland  not  acting  upon  it. 

An  amendment  was  offered,  and  adopted  by  the 
Senate,  to  an  appropriation  of  $94,000  for  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  on  June  10th,  which  required  the 
purchase  and  use  of  American-made  machinery  in  the 
manufacture  of  sugar  from  sorghum  and  sugar-cane,  so 
far  as  authorized  by  that  Department.  To  this  the 
House  at  first  non-concurred ;  but,  subsequently,  on 
June  29th,  the  report  of  the  Committee  of  Conference 
was  agreed  to,  providing  that  such  machinery  should 
be  wholly  of  domestic  material,  except  so  much  of  it  as 
was  then  under  contract,  not  exceeding  $10,000  in 
value,  or  such  of  it  as  could  not  be  built  in  the 
United  States  within  the  period  in  which  it  was  needed. 
The  amendment  was  important  as  establishing  a  princi- 
ple which  ought  never  to  have  been  seriously  contro- 
verted. 

At  the  second  session,  Mr.  Morrison  again  attempted 
to  have  his  bill  considered  by  the  House  in  Committee 
of  the  Whole.  His  motion  to  that  effect,  on  December 
18,  1886,  was  defeated— yeas,  148;  nays,  157.  Six 
Republicans  voted  in  the  negative;  twenty-six  Demo- 
crats in  the  affirmative ;  and  five  Republicans  and  four- 
teen Democrats  did  not  vote. 

Hon.  Frank  Hiscock,  of  New  York,  on  December 
20th,  moved  to  suspend  the  rules  and  pass  a  bill  regu- 
lating the  duties  on  leaf  tobacco.  The  motion  was  lost 
— yeas,  90;  nays,  164  ;  not  voting,  67. 

Hon.  John  S.  Henderson,  of  North  Carolina,  on 
March  3,  1887,  the  closing  day  of  the  session,  attempted 
to  secure  a  suspension  of  the  rules  and  the  passage  of  a 


80  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

bill  modifying  the  internal  revenue  laws,  relating  to 
the  sale  of  leaf  tobacco,  and  for  other  purposes.  The 
motion  failed  to  receive  the  necessary  two-thirds  vote — 
yeas  139,  all  Democrats  but  nine ;  nays,  112,  all  Repub- 
licans but  five,  while  sixty-eight  members  did  not  vote. 

The  Democratic  majority  in  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives in  the  Fiftieth  Congress,  elected  in  1886,  was 
materially  reduced,  that  party  electing  but  169  of  the 
325  members.  Mr.  Carlisle  was  re-elected  Speaker,  and 
Mr.  Mills  became  Chairman  of  the  Ways  and  Means 
Committee.  The  Senate  remained  Republican  by  two 
votes,  with  Hon.  John  J.  Ingalls,  of  Kansas,  as  Presi- 
dent pro  tem.j  and  Mr.  Morrill,  Chairman  of  the  Finance 
Committee. 

The  attention  not  only  of  this  Congress,  but  of  the 
whole  country,  was  sharply  arrested  by  Mr.  Cleveland's 
third  annual  message,  of  December  6,  1887.  It  was  an 
extraordinary  document  and  in  direct  contrast  to  his 
two  preceding  annual  messages.  It  was  largely  devoted 
to  a  consideration  of  the  tariff,  upon  which  he  was 
thought  to  have  previously  held  a  conservative  posi- 
tion. In  the  course  of  his  recommendations,  Mr.  Cleve- 
land observed : 

"  But  our  present  tariff  laws,  the  vicious,  inequitable, 
and  illogical  source  of  unnecessary  taxation,  ought  to 
be  at  once  revised  and  amended.  These  laws,  as  their 
primary  and  plain  effect,  raise  the  price  to  consumers  of 
all  articles  imported  and  subject  to  duty,  by  precisely  the 
sum  paid  for  such  duties.  Thus  the  amount  of  the  duty 
measures  the  tax  paid  by  those  who  purchase  for  use 
these  imported  articles.  Many  of  these  things,  however, 
are  raised  or  manufactured  in  our  own  country,  and  the 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  81 

duties  now  levied  upon  foreign  goods  and  products  are 
called  protection  to  these  home  manufactures,  because 
they  render  it  possible  for  those  of  our  people  who  are 
manufacturers  to  make  these  taxed  articles  and  sell 
them  for  a  price  equal  to  that  demanded  for  the  impor- 
ted goods  that  have  paid  customs  duty.  So  it  happens 
that  while  comparatively  a  few  use  the  imported  articles, 
millions  of  our  people,  who  never  used  and  never  saw 
any  of  the  foreign  products,  purchase  and  use  things  of  the 
same  kind  made  in  this  country,  and  pay  therefor  nearly 
or  quite  the  same  enhanced  price  which  the  duty  adds 
to  the  imported  articles.  Those  who  buy  imports  pay 
the  duty  charged  thereon  into  the  public  Treasury ;  but 
the  great  majority  of  our  citizens,  who  buy  domestic  ar- 
ticles of  the  same  class,  pay  a  sum  at  least  approximately 
equal  to  this  duty  to  the  home  manufacturer.  This  ref- 
erence to  the  operation  of  our  tariff  laws  is  not  made 
by  way  of  instruction,  but  in  order  that  we  may  be 
constantly  reminded  of  the  manner  in  which  they  im- 
pose a  burden  upon  those  who  consume  domestic  pro- 
ducts as  well  as  those  who  consume  imported  articles, 
and  thus  create  a  tax  upon  all  our  people." 

And  again  :  "  It  is  a  condition  which  confronts  us 
— not  a  theory.  Relief  from  this  condition  may  in- 
volve a  slight  reduction  of  the  advantages  which  we 
award  our  home  productions,  but  the  entire  withdrawal 
of  such  advantages  should  not  be  contemplated.  The 
question  of  free  trade  is  absolutely  irrelevant ;  and  the 
persistent  claim,  made  in  certain  quarters,  that  all  ef- 
forts to  relieve  the  people  from  unjust  and  unnecessary 
taxation  are  schemes  of  so-called  '  free-traders '  is  mis- 
chievous and  far  removed  from  any  consideration  for 


82  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

the  public  good.  The  simple  and  plain  duty  which 
we  owe  to  the  people  is  to  reduce  taxation  to  the  neces- 
sary expenses  of  an  economical  operation  of  the  Govern- 
ment, and  to  restore  to  the  business  of  the  country  the 
money  which  we  hold  in  the  Treasury  through  the  per- 
version of  governmental  powers.  These  things  can  and 
should  be  done  with  safety  to  all  our  industries,  with- 
out danger  to  the  opportunity  for  remunerative  labor 
which  our  workingmen  have,  and  with  benefit  to  them 
and  all  our  people,  by  cheapening  their  means  of  sub- 
sistence and  increasing  the  measure  of  their  comforts." 
But  however  much  the  country  was  startled  at  Mr. 
Cleveland's  position,  his  views  were  not  at  once  contro- 
verted by  any  of  the  great  leaders  of  Congress,  nor  did 
the  press  challenge  the  fairness  or  accuracy  of  his  state- 
ments in  such  a  way  as  to  command  the  attention  of  the 
public.  Indeed,  it  was  reserved  for  Mr.  Elaine,  then 
traveling  in  Europe,  to  do  this  in  a  manner  that  dis- 
played all  that  marvelous  brilliancy  and  sagacity  in 
leadership  for  which  he  had  so  long  been  distinguished. 
In  a  letter  to  Hon.  B.  F.  Jones,  of  Pittsburg,  then 
Chairman  of  the  Eepublican  National  Committee,  dated 
at  Florence,  Italy,  January  25, 1888,  he  declined  to  allow 
his  name  to  be  again  presented  as  a  candidate  for 
the  Presidency,  then  hastily  but  clearly  pointed  out 
the  vastly  improved  prospects  for  party  success,  and 
strongly  asserted  the  impregnable  position  of  the  Re- 
publican party  upon  the  tariff  question,  in  the  combat 
to  which  the  President  had  so  boldly  challenged  them. 
He  recited  but  plain  historical  facts,  which  were  after- 
ward abundantly  proven  by  the  testimony  of  the  most 
prominent  Democrats  in  Congress,  when  he  said  : 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  83 

44  Another  feature  of  the  political  situation  should 
inspire  Republicans  with  irresistible  strength.  The 
present  National  administration  was  elected  with,  if  not 
upon,  the  repeated  assertions  of  its  leading  supporters 
in  every  protection  State  that  no  issue  on  the  tariff  was 
involved.  However  earnestly  Republicans  urged  that 
question  as  the  one  of  controlling  importance  in  the 
campaign,  they  were  met  by  the  Democratic  leaders  and 
journals  with  persistent  evasion,  concealment,  and  de- 
nial. This  resource  the  President  has  fortunately  re- 
moved. The  issue  which  the  Republicans  maintained 
and  the  Democrats  avoided  in  1884  has  been  prom- 
inently and  specifically  brought  forward  by  the  Demo- 
cratic President,  and  can  not  be  hidden  out  of  sight 
in  1888.  The  country  is  now  in  the  enjoyment  of  an 
industrial  system  which,  in  a  quarter  of  a  century,  has 
assured  a  larger  National  growth,  a  more  rapid  accumu- 
lation, and  a  broader  distribution  of  wealth  than  were 
ever  before  known  to  history.  The  American  people 
will  now  be  openly  and  formally  asked  to  decide 
whether  this  system  shall  be  recklessly  abandoned  and 
a  new  trial  be  made  of  an  old  experiment  which  has 
uniformly  led  to  National  embarrassment  and  wide- 
spread individual  distress.  On  the  result  of  such  an 
issue,  fairly  presented  to  the  popular  judgment,  there  is 
no  room  for  doubt. 

"  A  closer  observation  of  the  conditions  of  life  among 
the  older  nations  gives  one  a  more  intense  desire  that 
the  American  people  shall  make  no  mistake  in  choos- 
ing the  policy  which  inspires  with  hope  and  crowns  it 
with  dignity,  which  gives  safety  to  capital  and  protects 
its  increase,  which  secures  political  power  to  every  citi- 


84  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

zen,  comfort  and  culture  to  every  home.  To  this  end, 
not  less  earnestly  and  more  directly  as  a  private  citizen 
than  as  a  public  candidate,  I  shall  devote  myself,  with 
the  confident  belief  that  the  administration  of  'the  Gov- 
ernment will  be  restored  to  the  party  which  has  demon- 
strated the  purpose  and  power  to  wield  it  for  the  unity 
and  the  honor  of  the  Republic  ;  for  the  prosperity  and 
progress  of  the  people." 

Both  parties  were  now  aroused  to  the  most  intense 
earnestness,  and,  almost  as  a  natural  and  inevitable  con- 
sequence, what  is  probably  the  most  remarkable  Con- 
gressional tariff  debate  in  our  history  was  at  once  begun. 
A  bill  entitled  "A  bill  to  reduce  taxation  and  simplify 
the  laws  in  relation  to  the  collection  of  revenue "  was 
reported  to  the  House  by  Mr.  Mills,  Chairman  of  the 
Ways  and  Means  Committee,  on  April  2,  1888.  It  was 
accompanied  by  both  majority  and  minority  reports; 
the  former  signed  by  the  Democratic  members  of  the 
Committee  and  submitted  by  Mr.  Mills,  and  the  latter 
by  the  Republican  members  and  submitted  by  Mr. 
McKinley.  The  general  debate  was  opened  on  April 
17th  by  Mr.  Mills  in  support  of  the  bill  and  he  was  an- 
swered by  the  veteran  economist,  William  D.  Kelley,  who 
opposed  it.  This  continued  uninteruptedly  until  May 
19th,  when  it  was  closed  by  arguments  in  favor  of  the  bill 
by  Speaker  Carlisle  and  against  it  by  Mr.  Reed,  of  Maine. 
Then  came  the  debate  under  the  five-minute  rule,  which 
proceeded,  under  the  inspiration  and  encouragement  of 
the  Presidential  campaign  then  pending,  with  great 
vigor  and  earnestness  from  May  31st  to  July  19th. 
Congress  had  never  before  known  anything  like  it. 
Hon.  William  M.  Springer,  of  Illinois,  stated  at  its 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  85 

close  that  "twenty-three  day  and  eight  evening  sessions 
had  been  consumed  in  the  debate,  during  which  the 
bill  received  the  exclusive  consideration  of  the  House 
for  one  hundred  and  eleven  hours  and  fifty-four  min- 
utes." The  time,  it  appeared,  had  been  about  evenly 
divided  between  the  speakers  of  the  two  great  parties — 
"  fifty-six  hours  and  eighteen  minutes  were  allotted  to 
the  Democrats  and  fifty-five  hours  and  thirty-six  min- 
utes to  the  Republicans."  In  all  some  "one  hundred 
and  fifty-one  speeches  were  made  in  the  general  debate," 
and  in  that  upon  the  paragraphs  separately,  "twenty 
days,  or  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  hours  and  ten 
minntes"  were  consumed  in  fully  as  many  speeches 
more.  In  other  words,  fifty-one  days  were  devoted  to 
the  bill  from  beginning  to  end  of  the  remarkable  de- 
bate, two  hundred  and  forty  hours  of  actual  talk  in- 
dulged in  by  the  members  of  the  House  alone.  If  to 
this  be  added  the  particulars  of  the  debate  in  the  Sen- 
ate, some  faint  idea  can  be  formed  of  the  patient,  close 
aod  searching  attention  Congress  has  given  to  the  de- 
tails of  tariff  legislation  during  recent  years,  and  of  the 
immense  amount  of  work  involved  in  their  intelligent 
consideration.  No  one  seems  to  have  calculated  the 
exact  volume  of  the  speeches  on  "  the  Mills  bill, "  so 
called,  but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  were  all  printed  in  full 
they  would  easily  fill  twenty  to  thirty  volumes  the  size 
of  a  quarto  or  unabridged  dictionary. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  attempt  a  synopsis  of 
even  the  principal  speeches  in  this  protracted  debate. 
One  or  two  points  in  a  few  of  the  vast  number  will 
alone  be  mentioned.  Mr.  Mills,  in  his  opening  speech, 
observed  that  he  had  "  gone  through  with  a  number  of 


86  THE  TAKIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

articles  taken  from  the  reports  made  by  manufacturers 
themselves,  and  had  shown  that  the  tariff  (the  protec- 
tive tariff  of  1883)  was  not  framed  for  the  benefit  of 
the  laborer,  or  that  if  it  was  so  intended  by  those  who 
framed  it,  the  benefit  never  reaches  the  laborer — not  a 
dollar  of  it.  The  working-people  are  hired  in  the  mar- 
ket at  the  lowest  rates  at  which  their  services  can  be 
had,  and  all  the  boodle  that  has  been  granted  by  these 
tariff  bills  goes  into  the  pockets  of  the  manufacturers. 
It  builds  up  palaces ;  it  concentrates  wealth ;  it 
makes  great  and  powerful  magnates;  but  it  distri- 
butes none  of  its  benificence  in  the  homes  of  our  labor- 
ing poor." 

In  reply  to  this,  the  testimony  of  the  workingmen 
themselves  was  presented,  especially  the  testimony  of 
those  who  had  worked  in  the  same  branches  of  in- 
dustry on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  and  whose  oppor- 
tunity for  information  from  experience  in  both 
countries  made  their  evidence  not  only  interesting  and 
important,  but  absolutely  incontrovertible.  The  bur- 
den of  such  testimony  was  that  the  American  working- 
man  was  from  two  to  four  times  better  paid  for  the 
same  labor  than  his  European  competitor,  while 
as  against  his  Asiatic  or  Australasian  competitor  there 
was  scarcely  any  comparison  possible,  so  great  were 
the  advantages  in  favor  of  the  laborers  of  the  United 
States.  Turning  then  to  the  testimony  of  our  manu- 
facturers, it  was  shown  by  a  letter  from  William 
Barbour,  the  great  thread  manufacturer  of  Paterson, 
New  Jersey,  that  while  he  was  running  factories 
in  both  countries,  so  great  was  the  difference  in  wages 
that  his  1,400  American  laborers  were  paid,  in  1888, 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  87 

nearly  the  exact  sum  which  his  2,900  laborers 
were  paid  for  the  same  work  in  Ireland.  The  Singer 
Sewing  Machine  Company  maintained  a  factory  in 
Glasgow  as  well  as  in  New  Jersey,  and  though  it  em- 
ployed in  Scotland  one-third  more  hands  than  it 
did  in  America,  yet  its  pay-roll  in  Europe  was  only 
half  as  great  as  in  the  United  States — the  actual 
figures  being  in  Scotland  $18,000  and  in  New  Jersey 
$35,000.  The  Boston  Thread  aud  Twine  Company 
also  certified  that  "they  were  in  the  United  States 
paying  three  times  the  average  wages  paid  for  similar 
labor  throughout  Europe."  But  the  most  conclusive 
testimony  was  a  voluntary  statement,  in  a  petition  to 
Congress,  from  the  representatives  of  at  least  half  a  mill- 
ion workmen  of  the  United  States,  in  the  Amalgamated 
Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  and  Glass  Workers  of 
America.  They  said,  impressively :  "  We  know  that  we 
receive  our  share  of  the  benefits  of  protection  on 
the  industries  we  represent.  We  therefore  emphatically 
protest  against  any  reduction  of  the  duties  that  will 
bring  us  on  a  level  with  the  low  price  paid  for  labor  in 
Europe.  We  insist  upon  the  maintenance  of  a  strong 
protective  tariff,  in  order  to  maintain  an  American 
standard  of  wages  for  American  workingmen." 

Hon.  Thomas  B.  Reed,  of  Maine,  in  an  argument, 
unique,  original  and  effective,  gave  a  new  version  of  a 
story  from  ^Esop,  with  which  the  country  was  soon 
familiar.  "Where,"  he  asked,  "is  the  best  market  in 
the  world  ?  Where  the  people  have  the  most  money 
to  spend.  Where  have  the  people  the  most  money  to 
spend?  Right  here  in  the  United  States  of  America 
after  twenty-seven  years  of  protectionist  rule.  And 


88  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

you  are  asked  to  give  up  such  a  market  for  the  markets 
of  the  world.  Why,  the  history  of  such  a  transaction 
was  told  twenty-four  hundred  years  ago.  It  is  a 
classic.  You  will  find  it  in  the  words  of  JEsop,  the 
fabulist : 

tl  Once  there  was  a  dog.  He  was  a  nice  little  dog. 
Nothing  the  matter  with  him  except  a  few  foolish  free- 
trade  ideas  in  his  head.  He  was  trotting  along  happy 
as  the  day,  for  he  had  in  his  mouth  a  nice  shoulder  of 
succulent  mutton.  By  and  by  he  came  to  a  stream 
bridged  by  a  plank.  He  trotted  along,  and,  looking 
over  the  side  of  the  plank,  he  saw  the  markets  of  the 
world,  and  dived  for  them.  A  minute  after  he  was 
crawling  up  the  bank  the  wettest,  the  sickest,  the  nasti- 
est, and  the  most  muttonless  dog  that  ever  swam 
ashore." 

Mr.  Carlisle  spoke  on  the  same  subject,  but  in  a  quite 
different  vein.  He  addressed  himself  to  the  matter  of 
the  a  home  market "  as  follows : 

"In  1880  there  were  $215,000,000  invested  in  cotton 
manufactures,  and  there  were  employed  in  that  industry 
172,554  hands.  To  work  up  our  present  production  of 
raw  cotton  would  require  an  investment  in  the  manu- 
facture of  $660,000,000,  and  the  employment  of  517,662 
hands.  If  we  have  been  more  than  one  hundred  years, 
part  of  the  time  under  very  high  tariffs,  in  so  developing 
our  cotton  manufactures  as  to  enable  them  to  take  one- 
third  of  our  product  at  European  prices,  how 
many  more  centuries  will  be  required  to  enable  them  to 
consume  the  whole  product  at  prices  fixed  by  competi- 
tion here  at  home  ?  When  gentlemen  have  solved  this 
problem  to  the  satisfaction  of  the .  American  cotton- 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  89 

grower,  he  may  be  able  to  listen  with  patience  to  the 
argument  by  which  they  attempt  to  convince  him  of 
the  immense  advantages  of  a  home  market  that  will 
never  exist." 

Mr.  Randall,  although  in  failing  health,  felt  con- 
strained to  speak  upon  and  criticise  the  pending  bill 
very  sharply.  It  was  in  the  course  of  these  remarks 
that  Mr.  Randall  made  his  much  quoted  and  unanswer- 
able argument  in  favor  of  sustaining  our  home  markets. 
"  If,"  he  reasoned,  "  the  farmer  ceases  to  buy  the  pro- 
duct of  the  manufacturers,  he  will  certainly  cease  to  sell 
to  them,  but  must  sell  his  products  in  the  market  where 
he  buys  what  he  consumes  himself.  Suppose  last  year 
we  had  manufactured  a  thousand  millions'  worth  less 
than  we  did  and  had  gone  abroad  for  these  products,  ex- 
pecting to  pay  for  them  with  agricultural  products,  could 
a  thousand  millions  more  of  agricultural  products  have 
been  sold  abroad  at  the  price  which  products  brought 
here  ?  We  sold  all  the  wheat  and  corn  and  meat  pro- 
ducts that  Europe  could  take  at  the  price  that  pre- 
vailed. Who  can  tell  at  what  prices  Europe  would  have 
taken  five  hundred  millions  or  even  one  hundred 
millions  more  of  our  agricultural  products  than  she  did 
take?  The  mere  statement  of  the  proposition  is 
enough  to  disclose  the  error  on  which  it  is  founded,  and 
shows  the  importance  of  uniting  manufactures  with 
agriculture,  or,  as  Jefferson  states  it,  '  put  ting  the  manu- 
facturer by  the  side  of  the  farmer.'  In  fact,  both  must 
in  our  country  depend  almost  exclusively  on  the  home 
market.  It  is  folly,  if  not  a  crime,  to  attempt  to  change 
it  in  these  respects.  It  would  bring  ruin  and  bank- 
ruptcy without  the  possibility  of  having  such  a  result 


90  THE  TAEIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

accomplished.  The  greater  the  diversity  of  industries 
in  any  country,  the  greater  the  wealth-producing  power 
of  the  people,  and  the  more  there  is  for  labor  and 
capital  to  divide,  and  the  more  independent  that 
country  becomes." 

The  House  came  to  a  vote  on  July  21st,  and  the  bill 
was  passed — yeas  162,  all  Democrats  but  three;  nays 
149,  all  Republicans  but  four.  Fourteen  members  did 
not  vote.  Among  these  was  Mr.  Randall,  who  was 
paired  with  a  Democrat  who  favored  the  bill.  The 
sectional  character  of  the  proposed  legislation  is  ap- 
parent from  the  vote  on  its  passage.  New  England 
cast  seven  yeas,  seventeen  nays ;  the  Middle  States, 
yeas  twenty-eight,  nays  forty-six ;  the  Western,  yeas 
forty-two,  nays  sixty-eight;  the  Southern,  yeas  eighty- 
three,  nays  twelve;  and  the  Pacific,  yeas  two,  nays 
six. 

The  bill  was  referred  in  the  Senate  to  the  Committee 
on  Finance,  which  prepared  a  substitute  which  was  re- 
ported on  October  8th,  but  no  attempt  was  made  to 
push  it  to  a  vote  before  adjournment.  The  Senate 
substitute  followed  the  lines  indicated  by  the  Chicago 
platform  very  closely.  It  sought  a  reduction  of  the 
revenue  of  from  $60,000,000  to  $70,000,000,  but  in  do- 
ing this  maintained  the  protective  features  of  the  law 
of  1883.  Tobacco  was  made  free;  the  tax  on  alcohol 
used  in  the  arts  greatly  reduced,  and  the  tariff  on  sugar 
cut  in  two.  It  has  been  said  that  the  text  of  "the 
Mills  bill "  formed  the  main  issue  in  the  Presidential 
canvass  of  1888,  and  its  provisions  were  certainly  very 
fully  discussed  both  in  Congress  and  throughout  the 
country.  Congress  adjourned  on  October  20th,  after 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  91 

having  been  continuously  in  session  for  nearly  eleven 
months. 

It  was  at  this  session  that  Congress  passed  the  act  of 
October  1,  1888,  to  prohibit  Chinese  immigration — a 
law  of  direct  and  great  importance  to  all  American 
laborers.  Hon.  William  L.  Scott,  of  Pennsylvania,  in- 
troduced the  bill  on  September  3rd,  and  it  was  at  once 
passed  by  the  House  without  a  division.  The  Senate 
acted  with  similar  promptness^  On  September  7th, 
Hon.  Arthur  P.  Gorman,  of  Maryland,  moved  that  it  be 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  but 
his  motion  was  lost — yeas  nineteen,  Democrats  sixteen, 
Republicans  three;  nays  twenty,  Republicans  sixteen, 
Democrats  four.  The  bill  was  then  passed — yeas  thirty 
seven,  Republicans  nineteen,  Democrats  eighteen ;  nays 
three,  two  Republicans  and  one  Democrat.  The  meas- 
ure was  probably  presented  as  a  matter  of  party  ex- 
igency in  the  effort  to  place  the  Administration  right 
with  the  laborers  of  the  country,  but  if  such  was  its 
purpose,  it  failed  entirely  to  injure  the  Republican 
minority,  or  place  the  party  in  a  false  position  before 
the  country. 

One  of  the  minor  measures  affecting  labor,  passed  at 
this  session,  was  an  amendment  to  the  Urgent  De- 
ficiency Bill  offered  on  February  17,  1888,  by  Hon 
John  J.  O'Neill  of  Missouri,  and  providing  that  the 
Public  Printer  should  rigidly  enforce  the  provisions  of 
the  eight-hour  law  in  the  department  under  his  charge. 
This  was  of  importance  on  account  of  the  value  of  the 
example,  and  as  establishing  a  precedent  which  would 
in  time  be  generally  respected.  The  amendment  was 
ordered  by  the  vote,  yeas  182,  nays  53,  all  voting  in  the 


92  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

negative  being  without  exception  Democrats.  On 
March  7th  the  Senate  voted  to  strike  out  the  clause — 
yeas  32,  nays  20,  all  of  the  latter  Republicans  except 
one.  The  House,  on  March  15th,  refused  to  concur  in 
this  action,  and  in  conference  the  Senate  receded  from 
its  position  and  agreed  to  the  amendment.  \ 

In  the  Senate,  on  February  17th,  pending  considera- 
tion of  a  bill  to  incorporate  the  Washington  Electric 
Railway,  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  an  amendment 
was  offered  by  the  Committee  requiring  that  the  rails 
to  be  used  should  be  "  of  American  manufacture."  It 
was  agreed  to — yeas  twenty-five,  all  Republicans  but 
two ;  nays  seventeen.  The  House  did  not  consider  the 
bill. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  National  conventions  of  the 
two  great  parties  had  been  held.  The  Democrats  con- 
vened at  St.  Louis  on  June  5th,  and  promptly  and 
unanimously  renominated  President  Cleveland,  by  accla- 
mation. The  ticket  was  completed  with  great  enthus- 
iasm and  practical  unanimity  by  the  nomination  of  the 
venerable  Allen  Gr.  Thurman,  of  Ohio,  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent, by  690  votes  to  105  for  Isaac  P.  Gray,  of  Indiana, 
and  twenty-five  for  John  C.  Black,  of  Illinois.  On  the 
second  day  the  platform  was  adopted,  with  but  little 
opposition.  It  declared : 

"  All  unnecessary  taxation  is  unjust  taxation.  It  is 
repugnant  to  the  creed  of  Democracy  that  by  such  tax- 
ation the  cost  of  the  necessaries  of  life  should  be  un- 
justly increased  to  all  our  people.  Judged  by  Demo- 
cratic principles,  the  interests  of  the  people  are  betrayed 
when,  by  unnecessary  taxation,  trusts  and  combinations 
are  permitted  to  exist,  which,  while  unduly  enriching 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  93 

the  few  that  combine,  rob  the  body  of  our  citizens  by 
depriving  them  of  the  benefits  of  natural  competition. 
Every  Democratic  rule  of  governmental  action  is  vio- 
lated when,  through  unnecessary  taxation,  a  vast  sum 
of  money,  far  beyond  the  needs  of  an  economical  ad- 
ministratiop,  is  drawn  from  the  people  and  the  chan- 
nels of  trade,  and  accumulated  as  a  demoralizing  sur- 
plus in  the  National  treasury. 

"  The  money  now  lying  in  the.  Federal  Treasury,  re- 
sulting from  superfluous  taxation,  amounts  to  more  than 
$125,000,000,  and  the  surplus  collected  is  reaching  the 
sum  of  more  than  $60,00,000  annually.  Debauched  by 
this  immense  temptation,  the  remedy  of  the  Republican 
party  is  to  meet  and  exhaust  by  extravagant  appropria- 
tions and  expenses,  whether  constitutional  or  not,  the 
accumulation  of  extravagant  taxation.  The  Democratic 
policy  is  to  enforce  frugality  in  public  expense  and 
abolish  unnecessary  taxation.  Our  established  domestic 
industries  and  enterprises  should  not  and  need  not  be 
endangered  by  a  reduction  and  correction  of  the  burdens 
of  taxation.  On  the  contrary,  a  fair  and  careful  re- 
vision of  our  tax  laws,  with  due  allowance  for  the  dif- 
ference between  the  wages  of  American  and  foreign 
labor,  must  promote  and  encourage  every  branch  of  such 
industries  by  giving  them  assurances  of  an  extended 
market  and  steady  and  continuous  operation.  In  the 
interests  of  American  labor,  which  should  in  no  event 
be  neglected,  revision  of  our  tax  laws,  contemplated  by 
the  Democratic  party,  should  promote  the  advantage  of 
such  labor  by  cheapening  the  cost  of  the  necessaries  of 
life  in  the  home  of  every  workingman,  and  at  the  same 
time  secure  to  him  steady  and  remunerative  employ- 


94  THE  TARIFF  IX  THE  DAYS 

ment.  "  Upon  this  phase  of  tariff  reform,  so  closely  con- 
cerning  every  phase  of  our  National  life,  and  upon  every 
question  involved  in  the  problem  of  good  government, 
the  Democratic  party  submits  its  principles  and  profes- 
sions to  the  intelligent  suffrage  of  the  American  peo- 
ple." 

Hon.  William  L.  Scott,  of  Pennsylvania,  offered  and 
secured  the  adoption  of  the  following  additional  resolu- 
tion : 

"  Resolved,  That  this  Convention  hereby  endorses  and 
recommends  the  early  passage  of  the  bill  for  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  revenue  now  pending  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives." 

The  Republican  National  Convention  convened  in 
Chicago  on  June  19th.  Its  platform,  reported  on  June 
21st,  was  unanimously  adopted.  The  planks  relating 
to  the  tariff  were  as  follows : 

"  We  are  uncompromisingly  in  favor  of  the  American 
system  of  protection  ;  we  protest  against  its  destruction 
as  proposed  by  the  President  and  his  party.  They  serve 
the  interests  of  Europe ;  we  will  support  the  interests 
of  America.  We  accept  the  issue  and  confidently  appeal 
to  the  people  for  their  judgment.  The  protective  sys- 
tem must  be  maintained.  Its  abandonment  has  always- 
been  followed  by  general  disaster  to  all  interests  ex- 
cept those  of  the  usurer  and  sheriff.  We  denounce  the 
Mills  bill  as  destructive  to  the  general  business,  the 
labor,  and  the  farming  interests  of  the  country,  and  we 
heartily  endorse  the  consistent  and  patriotic  action  of 
the  Republican  Representatives  in  Congress  in  oppos- 
ing its  passage.  We  condemn  the  proposition  of  the 
Democratic  party  to  place  wool  on  the  free  list. 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  95 

and  we  insist  that  the  duties  thereon  shall  be  ad- 
justed and  maintained  so  as  to  furnish  full  and  adequate 
protection  to  that  industry  throughout  the  United 
States. 

"  The  Republican  party  would  effect  all  needed  re- 
duction of  the  National  revenue  by  repealing  the  taxes 
upon  tobacco,  which  are  an  annoyance  and  burden  to 
agriculture,  and  the  tax  upon  spirits  used  in  the  arts  and 
for  mechanical  purposes,  and  by  such  revision  of  the 
tariff  laws  as  will  tend  to  check  imports  of  such  articles 
as  are  produced  by  our  people,  the  production  of  which 
gives  employment  to  our  labor,  and  release  from  import 
duties  those  articles  of  foreign  production  except  lux- 
uries, the  like  of  which  can  not  be  produced  at  home.  If 
there  shall  still  remain  a  larger  revenue  than  is  requisite 
for  the  wants  of  the  Government,  we  favor  the  repeal  of 
the  internal  taxes  entirely  rather  than  the  surrender  of 
any  part  of  our  protective  system  at  the  joint  behest  of 
the  Whisky  Ring  and  the  agents  of  foreign  manufac- 
turers. 

"We  declare  our  hostility  to  the  introduction  into 
this  country  of  foreign  contract  labor,  and  of  Chinese 
labor,  alien  to  our  civilization  and  Constitution,  and  we 
demand  the  rigid  enforcement  of  the  existing  laws 
against  it,  and  favor  such  immediate  legislation  as  will 
exclude  such  labor  from  our  shores. 

"We  declare  our  opposition  to  all  combinations  of 
capital  organized  in  trusts  or  otherwise  to  control  arbi- 
trarily the  condition  of  trade  among  our  citizens ;  and 
we  recommend  to  Congress  and  the  State  legislatures,  in 
their  respective  jurisdictions,  such  legislation  as  will 
prevent  the  execution  of  all  schemes  to  oppress  the 


96  THE  TAKIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

people  by  undue  charges  on  their  supplies,  or  by  unjust 
rates  for  the  transportation  of  their  products  to  market. 
We  approve  the  legislation  by  Congress  to  prevent 
alike  unjust  burdens  and  unfair  discriminations  between 
the  States." 

The  Convention  completed  its  work  on  June  25th  by 
the  nomination,  on  the  eighth  ballot,  of  General  Ben- 
jamin Harrison,  of  Indiana,  for  President,  and  Hon.  Levi 
P.  Morton,  of  New  York,  on  the  first  ballot,  for  Vice- 
President. 

Mr.  Cleveland  gave  his  formal  letter  of  acceptance  to 
the  public  on  September  8th.  In  this  he  adhered  to  his 
oft-repeated  declaration  that  "the  consumer  pays  the 
tax,"  ignoring  entirely  the  well-known  fact  that  not  a 
few  articles  of  common  use  and  American  manufacture 
were  then  selling  in  the  markets  at  a  less  price  than  the 
amount  of  the  duty  levied  upon  similar  articles  made  in 
foreign  countries.  He  said : 

"The  cost  of  the  Government  must  continue  to  be 
met  by  tariff  duties  collected  at  our  custom  houses  upon 
imported  goods,  and  by  internal  revenue  taxes  assessed 
upon  spirituous  and  malt  liquors,  tobacco,  and  oleo- 
margarine. I  suppose  it  is  needless  to  explain  that  all 
these  duties  and  assessments  are  added  to  the  price  of 
the  articles  upon  which  they  are  levied,  and  thus 
become  a  tax  upon  all  those  who  buy  these  articles  for 
use  and  consumption.  I  suppose,  too,  it  is  well  under- 
stood that  the  effect  of  this  tariff  taxation  is  not  limited 
to  the  consumers  of  imported  articles,  but  that  the  duties 
imposed  upon  such  articles  permit  a  corresponding 
increase  in  prices  to  be  laid  upon  domestic  productions 
of  the  same  kind,  which  increase,  paid  by  all  our  people 


OF  HENBY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  97 

as  consumers  of  home  productions,  and  entering  every 
American  home,  constitutes  a  form  of  taxation  as  certain 
and  as  inevitable  as  though  the  amount  was  annually 
paid  into  the  hand  of  the  tax-gatherer." 

General  Harrison's  letter  of  acceptance  was  dated  at 
Indianapolis,  September  llth,  and  was  a  model  in  style, 
force  and  propriety.  In  discussing  the  tariff  he  classed 
those  who  held  to  the  theory  that  "the  import  duty 
upon  foreign  goods  sold  in  our  markets  is  paid  by  the 
consumer"  as  "students  of  maxims,  and  not  of  the 
markets" — a  phrase  that  was  soon  immensely  popular 
with  the  country. 

"The  Republican  party,  said  he,  "holds  that  a  pro- 
tective tariff  is  constitutional,  wholesome  and  necessary. 
We  do  not  offer  a  fixed  schedule,  but  a  principle.  We 
will  revise  the  schedule,  modify  the  rates,  but  always 
with  an  intelligent  provision  as  to  the  effect  upon 
domestic  production  and  the  wages  of  our  working 
people.  We  believe  it  to  be  one  of  the  worthy  objects 
of  tariff  legislation  to  preserve  the  American  market  for 
American  producers  and  to  maintain  the  American  scale 
of  wages  by  adequate  discriminating  duties  upon  foreign 
competing  products.  The  effect  of  lower  rates  and 
larger  importations  upon  the  public  revenue  is  con- 
tingent and  doubtful,  but  not  so  the  effect  upon 
American  production  and  American  wages." 

The  campaign  resulted  in  a  decisive  Eepublican 
victory.  General  Harrison  received  233  electoral  votes 
to  168  for  Mr.  Cleveland.  Congress  also  was  Republican 
in  both  branches — the  Senate,  Republicans  47,  Demo- 
crats 37;  the  House,  Republicans  173,  Democrats  157. 

In  his  annual  message  of  December  3,  1888,  at  the 


98  THE  TABIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

opening  of  the  second  session  of  the  Fiftieth  Congressy 
Mr.  Cleveland  observed  that  with  its  expiration  "the  first 
century  of  our  constitutional  existence  as  a  Nation  will 
have  been  completed."  Nor  could  he  view  the  future 
without  fear  and  dismay,  for  while  we  could  "view 
with  pride  and  satisfaction  the  bright  picture  of  our 
country's  growth  and  prosperity,  yet  a  closer  scrutiny 
develops  a  sombre  shading.  Upon  more  careful  in- 
spection  we  find  the  wealth  and  luxury  of  our  cities 
mingled  with  poverty  and  wretchedness  and  unremun- 

erative   toil." "The   people   must   still  be 

taxed  for  the  support  of  the  Government  under  the 

operation  of  tariff  laws The  farmers  were 

forced  by  the  action  of  the  Government  to  pay  for  the 
benefit  of  others  such  enhanced  *  prices  for  the  things 
they  need  that  the  scanty  returns  of  their  labor  fail  to 
furnish  their  support,  or  leave  margin  for  accumulation." 

"Our  workingmen,  too,"  continued  Mr.  Cleveland, 
"  enfranchised  from  all  delusions,  and  no  longer  fright- 
ened by  the  cry  that  their  wages  are  endangered  by  a 
just  revision  of  our  tariff  laws,  will  reasonably  demand 
through  such  revision  steadier  employment,  cheaper 
means  of  living  in  their  homes,  freedom  for  themselves 
and  their  children  from  the  doom  of  perpetual  servi- 
tude, and  an  open  door  to  their  advancement  beyond 
the  limits  of  a  laboring  class.  Others  of  our  citizens 
whose  comforts  and  expenditures  are  measured  by 
moderate  salaries  and  fixed  incomes  will  insist  upon 
the  fairness  and  justice  of  cheapening  the  cost  of  neces- 
saries for  themselves  and  their  families." 

Such  was  the  fair  promise  of  "  tariff  reform  " — good 
wages,  steady  employment,  cheaper  living,  and  indus- 


/      worr*F. 

I    MNIV,'   3ITY 

•^^ 
OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  99 

trial,  commercial,  and  social  advancement.  We  shall 
see  how  it  was  kept  in  later  years  after  only  a  partial 
triumph  of  the  theories  and  policy  it  involved. 

The  Senate  immediately  resumed  consideration  of 
"  the  Mills  bill,"  >the  pending  question  being  on  the 
adoption  of  the  substitute  offered  by  the  Finance  Com- 
mitee.  The  bill  was  debated  from  December  5th  until 
January  22nd,  when  the  substitute,  as  amended  in 
Committee  of  the  Whole,  was  concurred  in  and  the 
bill  passed  by  a  strictly  party  vote — yeas,  Eepublicans, 
thirty-two;  nays,  Democrats,  thirty.  When  the  bill 
reached  the  House  it  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Ways  and  Means.  On  February  15th  Mr.  Mills  re- 
ported it  back  as  originally  passed  by  the  House,  with 
the  Senate  substitute?  and  a  resolution  to  the  effect 
that  the  substitute  being  in  effect  "  another  and  differ- 
ent bill,"  it  was  in  direct  "  conflict  with  the  true  intent 
and  purpose  of  Section  seven,  Article  I,  of  the  Con- 
stitution (which  vests  in  the  House  the  sole  power  to 
originate  revenue  measures)  and  should  be  returned  to 
the  Senate."  No  vote  was  then  taken,  but  on  February 
23rd,  Mr.  Randall  raised  the  question  of  consideration. 
The  motion  was  lost — yeas  89,  all  Democrats,  but  two 
Independents ;  nays  144,  all  Republicans,  except  thirty, 
while  eighty-nine  members  did  not  vote  at  all. 

Hon.  Richard  P.  Bland,  of  Missouri,  moved  to  recon- 
sider this  vote,  but  Mr.  Randall  moved  to  lay  that 
motion  on  the  table,  and  this  was  agreed  to — yeas  165, 
all  Republicans  but  forty-two ;  nays  83,  all  Democrats. 
This  ended  the  fight.  No  further  action  or  vote  was 
taken,  and  so  the  Senate  substitute  was  not  considered 
in  the  House  at  all. 


100  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

Hon.  Henry  H.  Cowles,  of  North  Carolina,  introduced 
a  bill  in  the  House  on  January  14,  1889,  to  amend  the 
internal  revenue  laws,  being  the  same  as  the  provisions 
of  that  part  of  the  Mills  bill.  He  moved  that  it  be  re- 
ferred to  the  Committee  on  Appropriations  instead  of 
Ways  and  Means,  and  it  was  agreed  to — yeas  126,  all 
Eepublicans  but  twenty-four ;  nays  91,  all  Democrats  ; 
not  voting  106.  Mr.  Randall  reported  the  bill  favorably 
on  February  1 6th,  and  it  was  referred  to  the  Committee 
of  the  "Whole.  On  the  22nd  he  reported  a  rule  pro- 
viding for  its  consideration,  from  the  Committee  on 
Rules,  but  neither  the  bill  nor  rule  ever  secured  further 
attention. 

On  the  same  day,  Hon.  John  M.  Brower,  of  North 
Carolina,  introduced  a  bill  to  repeal  the  tobacco  tax 
in  all  its  forms,  and  moved  that  it  be  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  War  Claims.  It  was  lost — yeas  101,  all 
Republicans  but  five  ;  nays  117,  all  Democrats  but  five  ; 
and  105  not  voting.  The  bill  was  then  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  and  despite  another 
effort  at  consideration  on  January  21st,  it  was  never 
reported  to  the  House. 

President  Harrison  made  but  brief  reference  to  the 
tariff  in  his  inaugural  address  of  March  4,  1889.  "  It  will 
be  the  duty  of  Congress,"  said  he,  "  wisely  to  forecast  any 
extraordinary  demands,  and,  having  added  them  to  our 
ordinary  expenditures,  to  so  adjust  our  revenue  laws 
that  no  considerable  annual  surplus  will  remain.  We 
will  fortunately  be  able  to  apply  to  the  redemption  of 
the  public  debt  any  small  and  unforeseen  excess  of  rev- 
enue. This  is  better  than  to  reduce  our  income  below 
our  necessary  expenditures,  with  the  resulting  choice 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  101 

between  another  change  of  our  revenue  laws  and  an  in- 
crease of  the  public  debt.  It  is  quite  possible,  I  am 
sure,  to  effect  the  necessary  reduction  in  our  revenues 
without  breaking  down  our  protective  tariff  or  seriously 
injuring  any  domestic  industry/' 

The  House  of  Representatives  in  the  Fifty-first  Con- 
gress organized  by  electing  Hon.  Thomas  B.  Reed,  of 
Maine,  Speaker,  who  appointed  the  following  mem- 
bers as  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means :  William 
McKinley,  of  Ohio,  Chairman,  Julius  C.  Burrows,  of 
Michigan,  Thomas  M.  Bayne,  of  Pennsylvania,  Nelson 
Dingley,  Jr.,  of  Maine,  Joseph  McKenna,  of  California, 
Sereno  E.  Payne,  of  New  York,  Robert  M.  LaFollette, 
of  Wisconsin ,  John  H.  Gear,  of  Iowa,  Republicans ; 
Roger  Q.  Mills,  of  Texas,  Benton  McMillan,  of  Ten- 
nessee, Roswell  P.  Flower,  of  New  York,  Henry  G. 
Turner,  of  Georgia,  Democrats. 

Mr.  Harrison  gave  direct,  intelligent,  and  effective 
consideration  to  the  tariff  in  his  first  annual  message  to 
Congress,  December  3,  1889.  He  said  : 

"  I  recommend  a  revision  of  our  tariff  law,  both  in 
the  administrative  features  and  in  the  schedules.  The 
need  of  the  former  is  generally  conceded,  and  an  agree- 
ment upon  the  evils  and  inconveniences  to  be  remedied 
and  the  best  methods  for  their  correction  will  probably 
not  be  difficult.  Uniformity  of  valuation  at  all  our 
ports  is  essential,  and  effective  measures  should  be 
taken  to  secure  it.  It  it  equally  desirable  that  ques- 
tions affecting  rates  and  classifications  should  be 
promptly  decided.  The  preparation  of  a  new  schedule 
of  customs  duties  is  a  matter  of  great  delicacy  because 
of  its  direct  effect  upon  the  business  of  the  country,  and 


102  THE  TAEIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

of  great  difficulty  by  reason  of  the  wide  divergence  of 
opinion  as  to  the  objects  that  may  properly  be  pro- 
moted by  such  legislation.  Some  disturbance  of  busi- 
ness may,  perhaps,  result  from  the  consideration  of  this 
subject  by  Congress,  but  this  temporary  ill-effect  will 
be  reduced  to  the  minimum  by  prompt  action  and  by 
the  assurance  which  the  country  already  enjoys  that 
any  necessary  changes  will  be  so  made  as  not  to  impair 
the  just  and  reasonable  protection  of  our  home  indus- 
tries. The  inequalities  of  the  law  should  be  adjusted, 
but  the  protective  principle  should  be  maintained  and 
fairly  applied  to  the  products  of  our  farms  as  well  as 
our  shops.  These  duties  necessarily  have  relation  to 
other  things  beside  the  public  revenues.  We  can  not 
limit  their  effects  by  fixing  our  eyes  on  the  public  Treas- 
ury alone.  They  have  a  direct  relation  to  home  pro- 
duction, to  work,  to  wages,  and  to  the  commercial  inde- 
pendence of  our  country,  and  the  wise  and  patriotic 
legislator  should  enlarge  the  field  of  his  vision  to  in- 
clude all  of  these.  The  necessary  reduction  in  our 
public  revenues  can,  I  am  sure,  be  made  without  mak- 
ing the  smaller  burden  more  onerous  than  the  larger, 
by  reason  of  the  disabilities  and  limitations  which  the 
process  of  reduction  puts  upon  both  capital  and  labor. 
The  free  list  can  very  safely  be  extended  by  placing 
thereon  articles  that  do  not  offer  injurious  competition 
to  such  domestic  products  as  our  home  labor  can  supply. 
The  removal  of  the  internal  tax  upon  tobacco  would 
relieve  an  important  agricultural  product  from  a  burden 
which  was  imposed  only  because  our  revenue  from  cus- 
toms duties  was  insufficient  for  the  public  needs.  If  safe 
provision  against  fraud  can  be  devised,  the  removal  of 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  103 

the  tax  upon  spirits  used  in  the  arts  and  in  manufac- 
tures would  also  offer  an  unobjectionable  method  of 
reducing  the  surplus." 

On  December  17th,  Mr.  McKinley  introduced  the 
first  important  tariff  measure  of  the  session — a  bill  "  to 
simplify  the  laws  in  relation  to  the  collection  of  the 
revenue."  Its  object  was  to  protect  the  honest  im- 
porter in  the  United  States  against  the  unscrupulous 
and  dishonest  importer ;  to  protect  American  pro- 
ducers and  dealers  from  the  undervaluations  and 
frauds  that  had  long  been  practiced  upon  them;  to 
take  the  business  of  importing  out  of  the  hands  of 
dishonest  men  and  place  it,  as  it  once  was,  in  the 
hands  ot*  honest  agents,  factors,  and  merchants.  It 
looked  strictly  to  the  faithful  collection  of  the  im- 
port duties  justly  due  this  country ;  for  it  was  notori- 
ous that  for  years  past,  by  an  iniquitous  system  of 
consignments  and  undervaluations,  and  the  establish- 
ment of  foreign  agencies  on  this  side  the  Atlantic, 
we  had  not  collected  by  from  one-fourth  to  one-half 
the  duty  properly  due  the  United  States  on  the  true 
valuation  of  the  goods  and  products  imported.  The 
bill  encountered  strong  opposition,  but  passed  the  House 
on  March  5th  by  a  party  vote — yeas  (Republicans)  138, 
nays  (Democrats)  121.  It  was  reported  in  the  Senate, 
on  March  20th,  and  passed  that  body,  as  amended,  on 
May  3rd — yeas  35,  all  Republicans;  nays  18,  all 
Democrats.  The  House  refused  to  concur  in  the 
Senate  amendments,  and  the  bill  went  to  a  Committee 
of  Conference  consisting  of  Senators  Allison,  Aldrich, 
and  McPherson,  and  Representatives  McKinley, 
Burrows,  and  Carlisle,  who  agreed  upon  a  report  that 


104  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

was  adopted  by  both  houses,  and  the  bill  became  a 
law  by  the  approval  of  the  President  on  June  10, 
1890.  It  was  similar  in  its  provisions  to  a  bill  in- 
troduced in  the  Fiftieth  Congress,  as  the  outgrowth 
of  a  careful,  non-partisan  investigation  by  the  Senate 
Committee  on  Finance,  and  proved  a  wise  and  sal- 
utary measure. 

True  to  the  demand  of  the  Chicago  platform,  Mr. 
Sherman  introduced,  as  Senate  Bill  No.  1  of  this  Con- 
gress, on  January  14,  1890,  a  bill  declaring  the  creation 
of  trusts  and  combinations  in  restraint  of  trade  and  pro- 
duction was  against  public  policy,  and  therefore  unlaw- 
ful and  void.  It  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Fi- 
nance, who,  on  March  18th,  reported  a  substitute,  which 
in  turn  was  much  debated  and  amended,  and  then  re- 
ferred to  the  Committee  on  Judiciary  with  instructions 
to  report  within  thirty  days — yeas  thirty-one,  nine  Re- 
publicans  and  twenty-two  Democrats;  nays  twenty- 
eight,  six  Democrats  and  twenty-two  Republicans.  This 
substitute  was  entitled,  "A  bill  to  protect  trade  and 
commerce  against  unlawful  restraints  and  monopolies.'1 
It  was  reported  to  the  Senate  on  April  8th,  and  passed 
that  body  by  a  vote  of  fifty-two  yeas  to  one  nay — Mr. 
Blodgett,  a  Democrat,  of  New  Jersey.  The  House  con- 
sidered the  measure  on  May  1st,  and  after  adding  a  sec- 
tion, proposed  by  Mr.  Bland,  of  Missouri,  relative  to 
agreements  to  prevent  competition,  passed  it  without 
division.  The  Senate  amended  Mr.  Eland's  amendment, 
but  the  House  refused  to  concur  in  its  change,  and  Mr. 
Ezra  B.  Taylor,  of  Ohio,  Mr.  Stewart,  of  Vermont,  and 
Mr.  Bland  were  appointed  a  committee  of  conference  on 
the  part  of  the  House,  and  Mr.  Edmunds,  of  Vermont, 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  105 

Mr.  Hoar,  of  Massachusetts,  and  Mr.  Vest,  of  Missouri, 
on  part  of  the  Senate.  They  reported  an  amendment 
on  June  llth,  Messrs.  Bland  and  Vest  not  concurring, 
but  the  report  was  rejected  by  the  House — yeas  twelve, 
nays  115.  Mr.  Stewart  moved  that  the  House  insist  on 
its  disagreement  and  ask  for  a  second  committee  of  con- 
ference, which  was  agreed  to — yeas  106,  all  Republicans, 
nays  98,  all  Democrats  but  one.  The  new  committee 
was  the  same  as  the  old,  except  that  Mr.  Bland  was 
relieved  by  Hon.  David  B.  Culbertson,  of  Texas.  They 
recommended  that  both  houses  recede  from  their  respec- 
tive amendments  (Senator  Vest  not  signing  the  report), 
and  the  report  was  adopted  by  the  Senate  without  a 
division,  and  by  the  House  by  a  vote  of  yeas  242,  nays 
none,  and  eighty-five  not  voting.  It  was  approved  by 
the  President  on  July  2,  1890,  and  is  important  for  the 
precedent  it  established,  as  the  initial  legislation  by 
Congress  in  this  field. 

On  April  29th,  a  bill  was  reported  from  the  Ways 
and  Means  Committee,  by  Mr.  Dingley,  to  provide  for 
the  classification  of  all  worsteds  as  woolen  cloths.  It 
met  with  but  little  open  opposition  and  was  passed  by 
the  House  on  the  day  following.  In  the  Senate  the  bill 
was  taken  up  on  May  8th,  and,  after  several  futile  at- 
tempts at  amendment,  was  passed — yeas  thirty,  all  Re- 
publicans except  one ;  nay  twenty,  all  Democrats. 

On  April  16th,  Mr.  McKinley,  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  introduced  the  general 
tariff  bill,  entitled,  "  A  bill  to  reduce  the  revenue  and 
equalize  the  duty  on  imports,  and  for  other  purposes." 
He  offered  the  bill  with  the  majority  report,  while 
Mr.  Mills  presented  the  views  of  himself  and  the  other 


106  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

Democratic  members  of  the  Committee,  and  Mr. 
McKenna  submitted  his  own  views  upon  the  bounty 
on  sugar,  upon  which  alone  he  dissented  from  his 
Republican  colleagues. 

The  bill  had  been  for  nearly  four  months  under  con- 
stant consideration  by  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee, 
during  which  period  every  interest  in  the  country  that 
had  asked  for  it  had  been  given  a  hearing.  Manu- 
facturers, merchants,  farmers,  Grangers,  members  of 
the  Farmers7  Alliance,  agents,  factors,  wool-growers, — 
freetraders  and  protectionists — all  who  presented  them- 
selves to  the  Committee  were  freely,  fully,  and  patiently 
heard.  The  minority  party,  equally  with  the  majority 
party,  was  given  every  facility  to  present  its  views,  and 
both  those  who  opposed  and  those  who  advocated  the 
bill  were  urged  to  present  any  testimony  they  could  in 
support  of  their  respective  positions.  The  measure 
was  brought  up  for  discussion  on  May  7th,  when  it 
was  determined  to  limit  general  debate  to  four  days,  in 
the  Commiatee  of  the  Whole,  and  then  allow  eight 
days  for  consideration,  section  by  section,  under  the 
five-minutes  rule. 

It  is  impossible  to  attempt  to  follow  this  debate,  or 
even  to  intelligently  summarize  the  numerous  speeches 
made  during  its  progress.  Perhaps,  however,  a  fairly 
good  idea  of  the  views  of  its  friends  may  be  gathered 
from  the  following  extracts  from  the  report  of  the 
Committee,  namely : 

"  The  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  to  whom  was 
referred  that  part  of  the  message  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States  relating  to  public  revenues,  have 
carefully  considered  the  subject,  and  report  back  the 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  107 

accompanying  bill  with  a  favorable  recommendation. 
We  are  advised  from  the  annual  report  of  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  that  the  ordinary  revenues  of  the 
Government,  actual  and  estimated,  for  the  fiscal  year 
ending  June  30,  1890,  will  be  $385,000,000,  and  that 
the  expenditures  for  the  same  period,  actual  and  esti- 
mated, will  be  $293,000,000,  leaving  a  surplus  of 
$92,000,000.  The  estimated  amount  required  for  the 
sinking  fund  will  be  $48,321,116,  leaving  an  esti- 
mated net  surplus  of  $43,678,883.  The  excess  of 
revenues  over  expenses  estimated  for  the  fiscal  year 
ending  June  30,  1891,  we  are  advised  from  the  same 
source,  will  amount  to  $43,569,522.30,  which,  with  the 
amount  of  cash  now  on  hand  and  available,  reaching 
nearly  $90,000,000,  the  Committee  believe,  will  justify  a 
reduction  of  the  revenue  in  the  sum  contemplated  by 
this  bill. 

"It  is  framed  in  the  interest  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  It  is  for  the  better  defense  of  American 
homes  and  American  industries.  While  securing  the 
needed  revenue,  its  provisions  look  to  the  occupations 
of  our  own  people,  their  comfort  and  their  welfare ;  to 
the  successful  prosecution  of  industrial  enterprises 
already  started,  and  to  the  opening  of  new  lines  of 
production  where  our  conditions  and  resources  will 
admit.  Ample  revenues  for  the  wants  of  the  Govern- 
ment are  provided  by  this  bill,  and  every  reasonable 
encouragement  is  given  to  productive  enterprises  and  to 
the  labor  employed  therein.  The  aim  has  been  to 
impose  duties  upon  such  foreign  products  as  compete 
with  our  own,  whether  of  the  soil  or  the  shop,  and  to 
enlarge  the  free  list  wherever  this  can  be  done  without 


108  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

injury  to  any  American  industry,  or  wherever  an 
existing  home  industry  can  be  helped  without  det- 
riment to  another  industry  which  is  equally  worthy  of 
the  protecting  care  of  the  Government. 

"The  Committee  believe  that,  inasmuch  as  nearly 
$300,000,000  are  annually  required  to  meet  the  ex- 
penses of  the  Government,  it  is  wiser  to  tax  those 
foreign  products  which  seek  a  market  here  in  competi- 
tion with  our  own  than  to  tax  our  domestic  products 
or  the  non-competing  foreign  products.  The  Committee, 
responding  as  it  believes  to  the  sentiment  of  the  country 
and  the  recommendations  of  the  President,  submit  what 
they  consider  to  be  a  just  and  equitable  revision  of  the 
tariff,  which,  while  preserving  that  measure  of  protec- 
tion which  is  required  for  our  industrial  independence, 
will  secure  a  reduction  of  the  revenue  both  from  customs 
and  internal  revenue  sources.  We  have  not  looked 
alone  to  a  reduction  of  the  revenue,  but  have  kept 
steadily  in  view  the  interests  of  our  producing  classes, 
and  have  been  ever  mindful  of  that  which  is  due  to  our 
political  conditions,  our  labor  and  the  character  of  our 
citizenship.  We  have  realized  that  a  reduction  of 
duties  below  the  difference  between  the  cost  of  labor 
and  production  in  competing  countries  and  our  own 
would  result  either  in  the  abandonment  of  much  of  our 
manufacturing  here  or  in  the  depression  of  our  labor. 
Either  result  would  bring  disaster  the  extent  of  which 
no  one  can  measure.  We  have  recommended  no  duty 
above  the  point  of  difference  between  the  normal  cost 
of  production  here,  including  labor,  and  the  cost  of 
like  production  in  the  countries  which  seek  our  mar- 
kets, nor  have  we  hesitated  to  give  this  measure  of 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  109 

duty  even  though  it  involved  an  increase  over  present 
rates  and  showed  an  advance  of  percentages  and  ad 
valorem  equivalents.  We  have  not  sought  to  make  a 
uniform  rate  of  duty  upon  all  imported  articles.  This 
would  have  been  manifestly  unjust  and  inequitable. 
We  possess  advantages  in  some  branches  of  production 
which  offset  the  necessity  for  the  highest  duties,  and 
these  have  been  fully  recognized  in  the  arrangement 
and  adjustment  of  rates.  The  labor  cost  of  any  two 
manufactured  products  which  may  be  mentioned  is  not 
the  same,  one  being  largely  the  product  of  machinery 
and  the  other  largely  the  product  of  hand  labor,  and 
therefore,  while  one  product  requires  one  rate  of  duty 
for  protection,  another  product  may  require  another 
and  different  one  to  afford  equal  protection.  We  have 
sought  to  look  at  the  conditions  of  each  industry  at 
home  and  its  relations  to  foreign  competition,  and  pro- 
vide for  that  duty  which  would  be  adequate  in  each 
case. 

"  The  Committee  have  already  reported  and  the 
House  passed  a  bill  for  the  revision  of  the  administra- 
tive features  of  the  customs  law,  which  will  remedy 
many  of  the  evils  and  inconveniences  now  existing. 
For  the  purpose  of  convenient  reference  each  distinct 
paragraph  in  the  schedules  of  the  bill  is  numbered. 
This  has  been  done  heretofore  in  the  editions  of  the 
tariff  issued  by  the  Treasury  Department,  but  has  not 
had  legislative  sanction. 

"  The  present  provision  in  the  free  list  for  '  articles 
imported  for  the  use  of  the  United  States,  provided 
that  the  price  of  the  same  did  not  include  the  duty,'  is 
omitted  in  the  proposed  revision.  It  has  been  produc- 


110  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

tive  of  fraud  and  has  resulted  in  other  serious  abuses. 
Persons  having  contracts  with  the  United  States,  under 
color  of  the  law,  have  fraudulently  imported  large 
quantities  of  material  for  sale  with  a  resulting  loss  to 
the  revenue.  The  provision  also  works  injury  to  our 
own  people  by  inviting  foreign  competition  in  the  mat- 
ter of  Government  contracts.  The  remission  of  duty 
in  such  cases  is  in  effect  a  premium  offered  the  foreigner 
to  compete  with  the  honest  importer  who  pays  duty, 
as  also  with  the  domestic  producer.  It  is  unwise  to 
remit  duties  when  the  money  goes  neither  into  the 
public  treasury  nor  the  pockets  of  our  own  people,  but 
to  enrich  their  foreign  competitors.  The  Government 
ought  not  to  buy  abroad  what  it  can  buy  at  home. 
Nor  should  it  be  exempted  from  the  laws  it  imposes 
upon  its  citizens.  The  United  States  gains  nothing 
while  the  citizen  loses  by  this  provision.  These  con- 
siderations, it  is  believed,  warrant  the  proposed  change. 

"  Section  five  forbids  entry  to  merchandise  not 
plainly  marked,  stamped,  branded,  or  labeled  in  legible 
English  words,  with  the  name  of  the  country  in  which 
it  is  manufactured,  with  the  purpose  of  protecting  both 
our  own  people  from  the  imposition  of  inferior  goods 
and  the  revenue  from  possible  loss  through  undervalua- 
tion. 

"  Section  17  is  a  modification  of  section  2496,  Revised 
Statutes.  The  present  section  provides  that  articles  in 
violation  of  registered  trademark  shall  not  be  admitted 
to  entry.  It  does  not  prohibit  their  importation  or  pre- 
scribe their  forfeiture,  and  the  result  is  that  such  goods 
can  only  be  taken  possession  of  by  the  collector  as  un- 
claimed, retained  the  required  length  of  time,  and  sold, 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  Ill 

which  course  secures  their  distribution  in  this  country 
in  direct  contravention  of  the  intent  of  the  statute. 
The  domestic  interests  sought  to  be  protected  are  thus 
compelled  to  buy  them  up  in  order  to  protect  them- 
selves. It  is  proposed  by  this  amendment  to  admit 
such  articles  to  entry  for  exportation  only  within  three 
months  of  their  importation ;  otherwise  that  they  be  for- 
feited. The  admitted  superiority  of  certain  lines  of 
American  goods  has  induced  the  importation  of  foreign 
imitations  of  inferior  quality,  with  American  brands, 
to  be  put  on  our  market  as  the  superior  goods  of  Amer- 
ican manufacture.  Inferior  goods,  the  manufacture  of 
one  country,  have  also  been  imported  and  sold  bearing 
the  marks  of  the  superior  manufacturers  of  established 
reputation  of  another  country.  A  practice  has  also 
grown  up  of  importing  goods  under  invoices  authenti- 
cated in  a  country  other,  and  in  a  currency  of  less 
value,  than  of  the  country  of  manufacture. 

"  Section  22  provides  for  a  uniform  rate  of  drawback 
on  manufactured  articles  exported  or  articles  on  which 
duty  has  been  paid,  of  the  amount  paid  less  one  per 
cent,  for  expenses.  Heretofore  the  rate  has  varied  on 
different  articles.  In  some  cases  the  entire  duty  has 
been  refunded  and  in  others  the  duty  less  ten  per  cent. 
The  Government  ought  to  be  re-imbursed  the  expenses 
involved  in  the  transaction,  and  it  is  believed  this  will 
be  done  by  the  retention  of  one  per  cent. 

"Section  24  contains  an  important  provision  never 
before  enacted  in  any  American  tariff  law.  It  declares 
that  all  goods,  wares,  articles  and  merchandise  manu- 
factured wholly  or  in  part  in  any  foreign  country  by 
convict  labor  shall  not  be  entitled  to  entry  at  any 


112  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

of  the  ports  of  the  United  States,  and  the  importation 
theieof  is  hereby  prohibited,  and  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  is  authorized  to  prescribe  such  regulations  as 
may  be  necessary  for  the  enforcement  of  this  pro- 
vision. 

"Many  drugs  and  chemicals  which  are  not  pro- 
duced in  the  United  States  have  been  placed  on  the 
free  list.  These  chemicals  are  chiefly  used  in  manu- 
facturing industries.  The  recommendation  that  they 
be  made  free  will  reduce  the  cost  in  the  manufactures 
of  which  they  form  a  part,  and  it  is  believed  by 
the  Committee  will  result  in  a  benefit  to  the  consumer. 
The  amount  of  duty  remitted  by  placing  these  articles 
on  the  free  list  is  the  sum  of  $876,304. 

"  The  rates  of  duty  upon  earthen  and  China  ware  have 
not  been  materially  changed.  The  existing  duties  have 
resulted  in  the  establishment  of  large  manufacturing 
plants  with  great  benefit  to  the  consumer.  This  ware 
has  been  cheapened  to  the  people  under  the  advance  of 
duty  in  1883,  and  a  continuance  of  the  duty  is  believed 
to  be  essential  to  the  maintenance  of  this  industry  and 
will  secure  still  greater  benefits  to  the  consumer.  An 
increase  of  duty  has  been  recommended  upon  glass- 
ware. This  is  believed  to  be  necessary  to  compensate 
for  the  difference  in  the  cost  of  labor  here  and  in 
competing  countries,  and  to  protect  our  industries  from 
destructive  foreign  competition. 

"  By  the  proposed  bill  the  duties  on  first  and  second 
class  wools  are  made  eleven  and  twelve  cents  a  pound, 
as  against  ten  and  twelve  under  existing  law.  On 
third-class  wool,  costing  twelve  cents  or  less,  the  duty 
is  raised  from  2J  cents  a  pound  to  3£  cents,  and 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  113 

upon  wools  of  the  third  class   costing  above  twelve 
cents,  the  duty  recommended  is  an  advance  from  five  to 
eight  cents  per  pound.     The   bill    which   passed   the 
Senate  in  1888  made  the  dividing  line  on  third-class 
wools  at  twelve  cents  with  the  same  rates  of  duty  upon 
all    classes  of    wool   except  third-class     costing  less 
than  twelve  cents,  as  herein  recommended.   The  Senate 
fixed  the  duty  upon  that  grade  at  four  cents,  while  the 
Committee    recommended    3£    cents.      It  is  believed, 
however,   that   with   the   restrictions,  definitions,   and 
classifications,  and  the  addition  of  port  charges  to  the 
foreign  cost  recommended  in  the  proposed  bill,  this  dif- 
ference will  be  fully  compensated.      The  United  States 
ought  to  produce  all  of  the  wool  it  consumes,  and  will 
with  adequate  encouragement  and  defensive  legislation. 
The  amount  of  wool  consumed  in  all  forms  and  for  all 
purposes,  is  nearly,  if  not  quite,  600,000,000  pounds  an- 
nually.    In  January,  1889,  there  were  in  the  country 
42,599,079  sheep,  producing  about  245,000,000  pounds 
of  unwashed  wool,  while  the  imports  for  the  last  fiscal 
year  in  all  forms,  wool,  clothing,  and  carpet,  is  estimated 
at  about  350,000,000  pounds.    There  were  imported  of 
clothing  wools  29,224,522    pounds;   of  combed  wools 
6,871,666  pounds,  and  of  carpet  wools,  so-called,  90,391,- 
541  pounds ;   of  waste,  8,662,209  pounds — practically 
scoured  wools ;  and  the  value  of  woolen  and  worsted 
goods   imported   was   $52,564,942,  representing  about 
160,000,000  pounds  of  wool.       A  considerable  amount 
of  wool  was  imported  as   carpet   wool,   at  a  duty  of 
only  2£  cents  a  pound,  which  was  used  in  the  manu- 
facture of  clothing,  and  should  have  paid  the  clothing 
higher  wool  duty.      There  seems  to  be  no  doubt 


1U  THE  TAKIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

that  with   the  protection   afforded   by  the  increased 
duties   recommended  in   the   bill,  the  farmers  of  the 
United  States  will  be  able  at  an  early  day  to  supply 
substantially  all  of  the  home  demand,  and  the  great 
benefit  such   production   will  be  to  the  agricultural 
interests   of  the   country  can  not  be  estimated.     The 
production    of     600,000,000  pounds    of    wool    would 
require  about  100,000,000  sheep,  or  an  addition  of  more 
than  100  per  cent,  to  the  present  number.       It  will  be 
noticed  that  in  1860,  after  fou|teen  years  of  revenue 
tariff,    the    total    production    of  domestic  wool   was 
60,264,913  pounds,  or  1.7  pounds  per  capita,  while  in 
1884,   after  twenty-four  years  of  protection,  the  total 
production  had  increased  to  308,000,000  pounds,  or  5.4 
pounds  per  capita.     This  increase  justifies  the  policy  of 
affording  this  important  agricultural  product  adequate 
protection.     The   bill  seeks  to  stop  the  frauds  which 
have  been  so   shamelessly  practiced   in   the  past  in 
violation  not  only  of  the  spirit  but  the  letter  of  the 
law.     The  preparation  of  wools  under  new  names  and 
forms,  to  avoid  legal  duties,  has  been  very  generally 
practiced.     Noils,  ring  waste,  garneted  waste,  slubbing 
waste,  carbonated  waste,  roping  and  roving,  have  been 
imported  into  this  country  at  the  duty  on  unwashed 
wool,   when  they  were  in  fact  washed   and  scoured, 
partly  manufactured  and  ready  to  go  into  our  looms. 
It  is  believed  that  if  the  provisions   of  this   bill   be 
adopted  these   violations   will  be  prevented  and  this 
gross    injustice   to  the  wool   growers  of   our  country 
remedied. 

"The  increase  of  the  duty  on  clothing  wool  and  sub- 
stitutes for  wool  to  protect  the  wool  growers  of  this 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  115 

country,  and  the  well  understood  fact  that  the  tariff  of 
1883,  and  the  construction  given  to  the  worsted  clause, 
reduced  the  duties  on  many  grades  of  woolen  goods  to 
a  point  that  invited  increasing  importations,  to  the 
serious  injury  of  our  woolen  manufacturers  and  wool 
growers,  necessitates  raising  the  duties  on  woolen  yarn, 
cloth,  and  dress  goods  to  a  point  which  will  insure  the 
holding  of  our  home  market  for  these  manufactures  to  a 
much  greater  extent  than  is  now  possible.  The  necessity 
of  this  increase  is  apparent  in  view  of  the  fact  already 
stated  that  during  the  last  fiscal  year  there  were  imports 
of  manufactures  of  wool  of  the  foreign  value  of 
$52,681,482,  as  shown  by  the  under-valued  invoices, 
and  the  real  value  in  our  market  of  nearly  $90,000,000 
— fully  one-fourth  of  our  entire  home  consumption- 
equivalent  to  an  import  of  at  least  160,000,000  pounds 
of  wool  in  the  form  of  manufactured  goods.  In  revising 
the  woolen  goods  schedule  so  as  to  afford  adequate  pro- 
tection to  our  woolen  manufacturers  and  wool  growers, 
we  have  continued  the  system  of  compound  duties 
which  have  proved  to  be  so  essential  in  any  tariff  which 
protects  wool,  providing  first  for  a  specific  compensatory 
pound  or  square  yard  duty,  equivalent  to  the  duty 
which  would  be  paid  on  the  wool  if  imported,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  wool  grower,  and  an  ad  valorem  duty  of 
from  30  to  50  per  cent.,  according  to  the  proportion  of 
labor  required  in  the  manufacture  of  the  several  classes 
of  goods,  as  a  protection  to  the  manufacturer  against 
foreign  competition  and  ten  per  cent,  additional  upon 
ready-made  clothing  for  the  protection  o*  the  clothing 
manufacturers.  The  existing  tariff  gives  an  ad  valorem 
duty  of  from  thirty-five  to  forty-five  per  cent,  for  the 


116  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

protection  of  the  woolen  manufacturer,  and  the  bill 
which  passed  the  House  at  the  first  session  of  the 
Fiftieth  Congress  which  abolished  all  duties  on  wool 
and  consequently  the  equivalent  specific  compensatory 
duties  on  manufactures  of  wool,  gave  a  uniform  duty  of 
forty  per  cent,  on  all  woolen  goods  without  regard  to 
their  character.  This  duty  is  more  than  is  required  for 
unfinished  goods  like  cheap  blankets  and  flannels,  and 
less  than  is  requisite  for  fine  finished  manufactures  of 
wool,  which  are  being  imported  in  so  large  quantities. 
For  this  reason,  and  to  adapt  the  duties  to  the  compara- 
tive cost  of  manufacturing  different  woolen  fabrics,  we 
have  given  thirty  per  cent,  to  the  lowest  grade  of 
blankets  and  flannels,  thirty-five  per  cent,  to  the  medium 
grades,  forty  per  cent,  to  the  highest  grades  of  blankets 
(flannels  valued  about  fifty  cents  per  pound  being 
classed  as  "dress  goods,"  which  they  practically  are), 
carpets  and  the  lower  grades  of  finished  cloth  and 
cotton-warp  dress  goods,  and  fifty  per  cent,  to  the  finer 
grades  of  finished  cloth  and  to  all- wool  dress  goods, 
requiring  the  highest  skill  and  greatest  amount  of  labor. 
These  advanced  rates  on  the  better  grades  of  goods  for 
the  protection  of  the  manufacturers,  with  specific  duties 
fully  compensatory  for  the  duties  on  wool,  will,  it  is 
believed,  have  the  effect  to  largely  diminish  importa- 
tions of  manufactures  of  wool,  and  consequently  to 
reduce  the  revenue  instead  of  increasing  the  revenue  as 
would  be  the  case  if  the  importation  should  continue 
the  same.  From  the  best  information  we  can  obtain,  it 
is  probable  that  the  increased  rates  of  duty  given  to 
manufactures  of  woolens  will  reduce,  certainly  not 
increase,  the  revenue  from  this  source,  and  transfer  to 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  117 

this  country  the  manufacture  of  from  $15,000,000  to 
$20,000,000  of  woolen  goods  now  made  abroad. 

"  In  the  metal  schedule  no  change  of  duty  has  been 
recommended  upon  iron  ore  or  iron  in  pigs.  These 
duties,  it  is  believed,  can  not  be  lowered  without  detri- 
ment to  existing  industries,  and  we  have  not  felt  justi- 
fied in  interfering  with  the  further  development  of  our 
iron  ore  resources,  now  so  promising,  in  the  Southern 
States.  With  regard  to  pig  iron,  it  may  be  said  that  it 
is  in  no  sense  a  raw  material.  It  is  a  product  of  the 
highest  skill,  requiring  for  its  manufacture  large  and 
expensive  plants,  the  capital  invested  in  which  in  our 
country  to-day  more  than  equals  that  which  is  invested 
in  any  other  branch  of  our  iron  and  steel  industries. 
Pig-iron  is  made  in  twenty-five  States  of  the  Union. 
Its  manufacture  is  increasing  rapidly  in  many  States, 
largely  as  the  result  of  the  protective  duty  which  has 
long  given  encouragement  to  its  production.  It  has 
had  a  marvelously  rapid  growth  in  the  Southern  and 
Western  States  in  the  last  ten  years,  and  it  is  to-day  the 
leading  manufacturing  industry  south  of  the  Potomac 
and  Ohio  rivers.  It  has  been  the  most  potent  of  all 
influences  in  the  industrial  rehabilitation  of  the  South. 
To  reduce  the  duty  on  pig-iron,  and  on  scrap-iron  and 
scrap-steel,  which  are  substitutes  for  pig-iron,  would  an- 
nually bring  into  our  ports  many  shiploads  of  these  pro- 
ducts to  take  the  place  of  pig-iron  which  could  be  pro- 
duced at  home,  and  it  would  correspondingly  reduce  the 
demand  for  coal  and  iron  ore.  This  is  a  result  which  is 
surely  not  to  be  desired. 

"  There  has  been  an  increase  of  duties  upon  cutlery, 
believed  by  the  Committee  to  be  absolutely  necessary 


118  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

to  the  maintenance  of  this  industry  in  the  United  States. 
The  competition  from  Germany  and  other  countries  has 
been  so  ruinous  as  to  have  already  destroyed  some  of 
the  manufactures,  and  threatens  without  this  increased 
duty  to  wipe  out  the  remaining  ones. 

"  It  has  been  demonstrated  that  we  can  manufacture 
tin  plate  in  the  United  States  as  successfully  as  it  can 
be  done  in  England.  Its  production  here  suitable  for 
all  uses  is  no  longer  experimental.  We  make  sheet 
iron  and  sheet  steel,  and  it  is  confidently  believed  that 
we  have  in  the  Dakotas  pig  tin  in  sufficient  quantities 
for  use  in  making  all  of  the  tin  required  for  this  market; 
and  if  this  were  not  so,  pig  tin  is  on  the  free  list,  accessi- 
ble to  our  people  for  manufacturing  purposes.  There 
is  no  reason  except  inadequate  protection  why  we  are 
not  to-day  manufacturing  the  more  than  $21,000,000 
worth  of  tin  now  imported  into  the  United  States  and 
upon  which  we  pay  an  annual  duty  of  over  $7,000,000. 
It  is  estimated  that  the  establishment  of  an  industry 
which  would  supply  our  own  market  in  this  particular 
would  furnish  steady  employment  to  at  least  twenty 
four  thousand  men.  The  bill  provides  that  the  in- 
creased duties  shall  not  go  into  effect  until  July  1, 
1891,  and  it  is  believed  that  manufacturers,  encouraged 
by  this  proposed  legislation  in  the  meantime,  will  adapt 
their  plants  to  the  new  production,  and  that  in  the  end 
the  advanced  duty  will  not  enhance  the  cost  to  the  con- 
sumer, but  eventuate  in  lower  and  steadier-prices  to  the 
American  consumer.  To  the  end  that  there  may  be  no 
interruption  of  our  export  trade  of  canned  products  by 
reason  of  the  proposed  change,  the  Committee  recom- 
mend that  upon  tin  imported  and  exported,  made  up, 


OP  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  119 

the  Government  shall  retain  but  one  per  cent,  of  the 
duty  instead  of  ten  per  cent.,  as  provided  by  existing 
law.  If  the  recommendation  of  the  Committee  is 
adopted,  it  is  believed  a  new  and  important  industry 
will  be  secured  to  the  United  States,  with  large  result- 
ant benefits  to  the  people. 

"  The  Committee  recommend  that  sugar  up  to  and  in- 
cluding No.  16  Dutch  standard  in  color,  and  molasses, 
be  placed  on  the  free  list,  with  a  duty  of  four-tenths  of 
one  cent  per  pound  on  refined  sugar  above  No.  16 ;  and 
that  a  bounty  of  two  cents  per  pound  be  paid  from  the 
Treasury  for  a  period  of  fifteen  years  for  all  sugar 
polarizing  at  least  85  degrees,  made  in  this  country  from 
cane,  beets,  or  sorghum  produced  in  the  United  States. 
In  1888  the  consumption  of  sugar  in  the  United  States 
was  1,469,997  tons,  or  53.1  pounds  per  inhabitant.  Of 
this  only  189,814  tons  (375,004,197  pounds)  were  pro- 
duced in  the  United  States,  and  1,280,183  tons,  or 
seven-eighths  of  our  consumption,  were  imported.  We 
have  not  at  hand  the  statistics  of  sugar  consumption  and 
production  for  1889,  but  the  relative  proportion  of 
domestic  to  foreign  production  was  substantially  the 
same.  So  large  a  proportion  of  our  sugar  is  imported 
that  the  home  production  of  sugar  does  not  materially 
affect  the  price,  and  the  duty  is  therefore  a  tax,  which 
is  added  to  the  price  not  only  of  the  imported  but  of 
the  domestic  product,  which  is  not  true  of  duties  im- 
posed on  articles  produced  or  made  here,  substantially 
to  the  extent  of  our  wants.  In  1889  the  duties  collected 
on  imported  sugar  and  molasses  amounted  to  $55,975,- 
610.  Add  to  this  the  increase  of  price  of  domestic 
sugar  arising  from  the  duty,  and  it  is  clear  that  the 


120  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

duty  on  sugar  and  molasses  made  the  cost  of  the  sugar 
and  molasses  consumed  by  the  people  of  this  country  at 
least  $64,000,000,  or  about  one  dollar  for  each  man, 
woman  and  child  in  the  United  States,  more  than  it 
would  have  been  if  no  such  duties  had  been  levied  and 
the  domestic  product  had  remained  the  same.  Even  on 
the  assumption  that,  with  proper  encouragement,  we 
shall  eventually  be  able  to  produce  all,  or  nearly  all, 
the  sugar  required  for  the  consumption  of  our  people — 
an  assumption  which  your  Committee  believes  to  be 
sustained  by  many  facts,  notwithstanding  the  slow  prog- 
ress thus  far  made  in  sugar  culture  in  this  country. 
This  encouragement  can  be  given  much  more  economi- 
cally and  effectively  by  a  bounty  of  two  cents  per  pound, 
involving  the  expenditure  of  but  a  little  more  than 
$7,000,000  per  annum  with  the  present  production  of 
sugar  in  this  country,  than  by  the  imposition  of  a  duty 
involving  the  collection  of  $55,975,610  in  duties  in  the 
last  fiscal  year,  not  to  mention  the  amount  directly  in- 
volved. When  it  is  considered  that  this  increase  in  cost 
due  to  the  duty  on  sugar  falls  on  an  article  of  prime 
necessity  as  food,  your  Committee  are  persuaded  that 
justice  as  well  as  good  policy  requires  that  such  an  un- 
necessary burden  in  the  way  of  a  direct  tax  should  be 
removed  from  sugar,  and  that  the  encouragement 
required  to  induce  the  production  of  sugar  in  the 
United  States  should  be  given  through  a  bounty  rather 
than  by  an  import  duty.  In  providing  that  not  only  raw 
sugar,  but  also  sugar  up  to  and  including  No.  16 
shall  be  admitted  free  of  duty,  an  opportunity  is  given 
for  the  free  introduction  of  yellow  sugar  suited  for 
family  use,  an  arrangement  which  will  secure  to  our 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  121 

people  sugar  at  the  lowest  price  existing  in  the  markets 
of  the  world,  while  even  imported  white  refined  sugars 
will  be  subject  to  a  duty  of  only  four-tenths  of  one  cent 
per  pound. 

"  The  free  list  has  been  enlarged  by  the  addition  of 
the  following  articles :  Books  and  pamphlets  printed 
exclusively  in  languages  other  than  English  ;  books  and 
music  in  raised  letters  printed  exclusively  for  the  blind ; 
braids,  plaits,  laces,  flats ;  bristles,  raw ;  chicory  root,  raw, 
dried,  or  undried,  but  unground ;  coal  tar,  crude,  and 
pitch  of  coal  tar ;  dandelion  roots,  raw,  dried  or  unground, 
acorns,  bees  wax ;  floor  matting  manufactured  from  round 
or  split  straw,  including  what  is  commonly  known  as 
Chinese  matting;  currants,  Zante  and  other;  dates; 
grass  and  fibers ;  jute ;  jute  butts ;  manilla ;  sisal-grass ; 
Sunn  and  all  other  textile  grasses  of  fibrous  vegetable 
substance,  unmanufactured ;  degras  and  other  grease ; 
hair,  human,  raw,  uncleaned,  and  not  drawn;  molasses; 
needles,  hand,  sewing,  and  darning ;  nut  oil  or  oil  of 
nuts ;  olive-oil  for  manufacturing  and  mechancial  pur- 
poses, unfit  for  eating;  opium,  unmanufactured;  ore, 
nickel ;  potash,  crude  or  black  salts,  chlorate  of,  nitrate 
of  crude,  sulphate  of  crude ;  red  earth  or  raddle,  used 
for  polishing  lenses ;  seeds ;  hemp,  rope,  bulbs,  bulbous 
roots,  not  edible ;  shotguns,  barrel  or  barrels,  rough  or 
bored;  sponges;  sugar  up  to  and  including  No.  16 
Dutch  standard  in  color;  tar  and  pitch  of  wood;  tinsel 
wire,  lame  or  lahn ;  tobacco  stems ;  sulphur  ore,  as 
pyrites  or  sulphuret  of  iron  containing  an  excess  of 
sulphur;  turpentine,  spirits  of;  and  briar- wood,  manu- 
factured. 

"  The  Committee  have  given  months  of  investigation 


122  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

to  the  existing  conditions  of  agriculture  and  matters 
connected  therewith.     This  great  industry  is  foremost 
in  magnitude  and  importance  in  our  country.     Its  suc- 
cess and  prosperity  are  vital  to  the  Nation.    No  pros- 
perity  is  possible  to   other  industries  if  agriculture 
languishes.     In   so  far   as   the  fostering  care  of  the 
Government  can  be  helpful,  it  must  be  faithfully  and 
forcefully   exerted   to  build   up  and   strengthen  agri- 
culture.    That  there  is  wide  spread  depression  in  this 
industry  to-day  can  not  be  doubted.     Every  remedy 
within  the  scope  of  practical  legislation  known  to  your 
Committee   has   been  recommended  in  the  proposed 
measure  to  meet  the  urgent  requirements  of  the  situa- 
tion.    The  enemies  of  the  protective  system  have  no 
word  of  criticism  for  the  real  causes  of  agricultural  de- 
pression, no  suggestion  of  relief  from  the  real  burdens 
which  are  weighing  it  down  to-day;  but,  seizing  the 
present  as  a  favorable  time,  they  solemnly  charge  that 
the  decline  in  our  market  is  solely  due  to  the  tariff. 
They  are  pleased  to  ignore  the  fact  that  one  of  the 
purposes  of  a  protective  tariff  is  to  hinder  a  still  larger 
importation   of  foreign   produce,   and  thus   save  the 
market  from  still  greater  depression.     The  friends  of 
larger  foreign  importations   feel  no   apprehension   or 
alarm  at  the  rapidly  increasing  volume  of  foreign  agri- 
cultural produce  pouring  into  our  markets.     These  and 
all  other  actual  perils  they  pass  by.     They  are  silent  to 
this  danger  which  offers  real  harm  to  American  agri- 
culture and  clamor  against  its  only  safeguard  and  pro- 
tection. But  your  Committee,  sensible  to  the  importance 
of  this  industry,  prompted  by  the  single  motive  to  lift 
it  to  the  highest  level  of  profitable  employment,  believe 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  123 

that  they  offer  in  the  bill  presented,  all  the  relief 
which  tariff  legislation  can  give  to  it.  A  critical  ex- 
amination of  the  subject  will  show  that  agriculture  is 
suffering  chiefly  from  a  most  damaging  foreign  competi- 
tion in  our  home  market.  The  increase  in  importations 
of  agricultural  products  since  1850  has  been  enormous, 
amounting  from  $40,000,000  to  more  than  $356,000,000, 
in  1889.  This  is  an  increase  of  nearly  900  per  cent., 
while  the  population  increased  for  the  same  period  less 
than  300  per  cent.  During  the  past  ten  years  this 
growth  in  importation  has  been  most  rapid,  and  has 
been  marked  by  a  significant  and  corresponding  decline 
in  prices  of  the  home-grown  product.  Upon  the  prod- 
ucts of  chief  reliance  to  our  farmers,  competition,  not 
only  abroad  but  at  home,  with  the  poorly-paid  labor  of 
Europe  and  cheap  labor  of  Egypt  and  India,  is  depriv- 
ing our  produce  markets  and  sweeping  the  margins  of 
profits  from  the  farmers  of  the  country.  The  "  world's 
market,"  to  which  the  advocates  of  tariff  for  revenue 
only  invite  the  farmers  of  this  country,  is  to-day 
crowded  with  the  products  of  the  cheapest  human  labor 
the  earth  affords.  All  over  the  Old  World  there  is  a 
rush  of  their  surplus  to  that  market,  and  it  is  to  such  a 
contest  as  this  that  free  trade  would  allure  American 
agriculture.  With  the  foreign  grain  market  under  the 
sway  of  such  oppressive  competition,  with  the  foreign 
cattle  and  pork  market  depressed  and  obstructed  by 
various  ruinous  measures  of  restriction,  with  foreign 
agricultural  products  crowding  our  home  market,  your 
Committee  have  recommended  an  increase  of  rates  upon 
agricultural  products.  The  establishment  of  agricul- 
tural experiment  stations  under  Federal  supervision, 


124  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

the  energetic  research  into  the  resources  of  the  different 
sections  of  the  country,  the  application  of  scientific 
principles  to  agriculture  under  the  efficient  administra- 
tion of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  make  this  a 
most  opportune  time  to  encourage  and  foster,  by  the 
application  of  the  protective  principle,  the  development 
of  new  industries  on  the  farm. 

"  "We  advance  the  rates  upon  the  products  of  the 
soil  which  either  do  supply  or  can  be  brought  to  sup- 
ply the  home  consumption.  Horses,  cattle,  hogs,  sheep, 
bacon,  barley,  beans,  peas,  beef,  mutton,  pork,  buck- 
wheat, butter,  cheese,  eggs,  hay,  hops,  milk,  poultry, 
flax-seed,  vegetables,  potatoes,  flax,  hemp,  hides,  wool, 
tobacco,  and  many  other  products  are  advanced  with  a 
view  to  save  this  entire  market  to  the  American  farmer. 
As  indicating  the  general  line  of  policy  pursued  in 
changing  rates  in  this  schedule  your  Committee  can 
only,  in  the  scope  of  this  report,  note  a  few  articles 
illustrative  of  all.  In  the  last  ten  years  not  less  than 
$60,000,000  worth  of  horses,  cattle  and  sheep,  ordinary 
marketable  stock,  has  been  imported.  A  portion  of 
these  have  paid  twenty  per  cent,  ad  valorem  on  a 
fraudulent  undervaluation.  A  very  large  proportion 
have  come  in  free,  professedly  for  breeding  purposes, 
actually  for  the  common  markets.  The  duty  has  been 
changed  to  a  specific  rate  and  advanced  to  a  point 
where  it  will  protect  the  market,  while  the  paragraph 
in  the  free  list  on  animals  for  breeding  purposes  is  so 
framed  as  to  only  admit  animals  which  are  pure  bred 
and  properly  registered.  Ten  years  ago  the  cultivation 
of  tobacco  suitable  for  cigars  promised  one  of  the  most 
certain  and  profitable  investments  for  agriculture  in 


OF  HENEY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  125 

many  of  the  Northern  States.  To-day  the  industry  is 
crowded  from  its  own  market  by  foreign  importations 
produced  by  labor  costing  less  than  ten  cents  per  day. 
The  value  of  the  tobacco  imported  from  The  Nether- 
lands alone  for  the  six  months  ending  December  31st 
last  was  nearly  $5,000,000.  The  duty  has  been  in- 
creased with  a  view  of  protecting  the  American  market 
for  the  American  grower.  Flax  and  hemp  have  been 
advanced  upon  the  positive  evidence  that  the  time  has 
come  to  encourage  these  two  industries  from  an  agricul- 
tural stand  point.  The  farmers  themselves  are  ready 
to  enter  largely  upon  the  cultivation  of  flax  and  hemp 
fiber  under  adequate  protection.  The  diversity  of  our 
soil  and  climate  beyond  question  invites  us  to  the 
establishment  of  these  industries.  Samples  of  every 
grade  of  American  grown  flax,  from  the  coarsest  to  the 
finest,  have  been  examined  by  your  Committee,  and 
they  are  convinced  that  if  the  production  of  the  fiber 
and  the  weaving  of  the  fabric  be  given  a  fair  measure 
of  protection  against  the  low  wages  paid  in  the  several 
flax-growing  countries  of  Europe,  a  few  years  will  build 
up  an  immense  industry  in  the  United  States  of  in- 
estimable benefit  to  agriculture. 

"  The  Committee  have  recommended  changes  in  the 
internal  revenue  laws  as  follows :  Abolishing  the  tax 
on  dealers  in  leaf  tobacco,  which  will  relieve  4,872  tax- 
payers and  reduce  the  revenues  $48,570.88;  abolishing 
the  tax  on  dealers  in  manufactured  tobacco,  which  will 
relieve  590,013  tax-payers  from  the  payment  of  a  small 
but  vexatious  tax,  and  will  reduce  the  revenue  $1,280,- 
015.98  ;  abolishing  the  tax  on  manufacturers  of  tobacco, 
which  will  relieve  902  tax-payers  and  reduce  the  rev- 


126  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

enue  $5,128.25;  abolishing  the  tax  on  manufacturers  of 
cigars,  which  will  relieve  20,684  tax-payers  and  reduce 
the  revenue  $120,195.53 ;  abolishing  the  tax  on  ped- 
dlers of  tobacco,  which  will  relieve  16,060  tax- payers 
and  reduce  the  revenue  $127,010.88.  The  Committee 
recommend  a  reduction  of  the  tax  on  smoking  and  man- 
ufactured  tobacco  from  eight  cents  to  four  cents  per 
pound,  which  will  effect  a  reduction  of  the  revenue  of 
$8,538,449.97;  snuff  from  eight  cents  to  four  cents  per 
pound,  which  will  effect  a  reduction  of  the  revenue  of 
$322,544.78 ;  and  the  abolition  of  the  tax  on  retail 
dealers  in  leaf  tobacco,  effecting  a  reduction  of  the  rev* 
enue  of  $270.84.  They  have  recommended  that  all 
provisions  of  the  statutes  imposing  restrictions  of  any 
kind  whatsoever  upon  farmers  and  growers  of  tobacco, 
in  regard  to  the  sale  thereof,  be  repealed.  This  will 
enable  the  farmers  and  planters  to  sell  their  tobacco 
wherever  and  to  whomsoever  they  please  with  the  same 
freedom  they  now  dispose  of  other  agricultural  prod- 
ucts. They  have  been  advised  by  the  Commissioner 
of  Internal  Revenue  that  the  abolition  of  the  special 
taxes  herein  proposed  can  be  made  with  safety  and  will 
in  no  way  interfere  with  the  administration  of  the  laws. 
which  are  to  remain. 

"The  advance  of  duties  on  agricultural  products,  in- 
cluding tobacco  and  wool  and  manufactures  of  wool 
and  sundries,  on  the  supposition  that  the  imports  of  the 
next  fiscal  year  would  be  as  large  as  in  the  year  ending 
June  30,  1889,  would  increase  the  revenue.  But  the 
articles  oa  which  duties  have  been  increased  are  for  the 
most  part  such  as  we  can  produce  to  the  extent  of  our 
wants,  and  the  increase  of  duties  will  have  the  effect  to- 


OP  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  127 

diminish  the  importations  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
revenue  will  not  be  increased.  No  other  result  can  fol- 
low. The  effect  of  the  advance  of  duties  on  agricult- 
ural products,  for  example,  will  be  to  hold  our  own 
markets  in  larger  measure  than  at  present  for  our  own 
farmers  without  any  increase  in  the  revenue.  The  same 
result  will  follow  in  other  cases  of  increase,  and  where 
the  revenue  is  in  special  cases  increased  this  increase 
will  be  far  less  than  is  indicated  by  a  computation 
based  on  the  theory  that  importations  of  such  articles 
will  continue  as  large  as  under  lower  duties.  In  the 
case  of  manufactures  of  wool,  where  the  importations 
have  been  enormous  because  of  inadequate  duties,  there 
can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  the  rates  of  duty  pro- 
posed will  diminish  rather  than  increase  the  revenue. 
Your  Committee  conclude,  therefore,  that  the  proposed 
bill,  if  enacted  into  law,  will  certainly  reduce  the  rev- 
enue from  imports  at  least  $60,936,536,  and  probably 
more,  and  from  the  internal  revenue  $10,327,878,  or  in 
the  aggregate  $71,264,414." 

In  reply  to  this  report,  Mr.  Mills  offered  the  views  of 
the  minority,  which  were  in  part  as  follows : 

"  At  a  time  when  it  is  confessed  by  all  parties  that 
the  Government  does  not  need  additional  revenue,  but 
that  there  ought  to  be  a  reduction  of  its  receipts,  the 
bill  reported  by  the  majority  proposes  to  levy  upon  a 
great  many  articles  of  absolute  necessity  higher  rates  of 
duty  than  were  ever  heretofore  proposed  in  any  meas- 
ure reported  to  Congress.  These  increases  of  rates  are 
made  in  every  instance  for  the  purpose  of  restricting 
trade  and  thereby  affording  what  is  called  protection  to 
the  producers  of  similar  articles  in  this  country.  The 


128  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

original  argument  in  favor  of  protective  duties  was  that 
they  were  necessary  to  foster  infant  industries  by  pre- 
venting ruinous  competition  from  abroad  until  they 
could  secure  a  hold  on  the  home  market  and  thus  be- 
come self-sustaining,  and  it  was  again  and  again  pre- 
dicted by  the  earlier  advocates  of  the  system  that  a  few 
years  of  public  support  would  enable  them  to  do  this. 
But  the  present  bill  is  based  upon  precisely  the  oppo- 
site view.  It  is  framed  upon  the  assumption  that  as 
our  industries  grow  older  they  grow  weaker  and  more 
dependent  upon  the  bounty  of  the  Government  and  the 
forced  contributions  of  the  people  who  purchase  and 
consume  their  products ;  and  accordingly  we  find  that, 
as  a  general  rule,  the  important  increases  in  the  rates  of 
duty  are  made  with  a  view  of  still  further  protecting 
the  products  of  our  oldest  industries,  such  as  manufac- 
tures of  iron  and  steel,  woolen  goods,  cotton  goods, 
manufactures  of  flax,  hemp,  etc.  If  it  be  true  that  these 
old  industries  need  more  protection  now  than  they 
needed  a  hundred  years  ago,  it  must  be  because  they 
have  been  existing  under  an  unnatural  and  unhealthy 
system  and  have  lost  that  spirit  of  self-reliance  and  in- 
dependence which  is  essential  to  the  permanent  growth 
and  prosperity  of  every  business  enterprise.  Thirty 
years  ago,  after  a  considerable  period  of  low  taxes  upon 
imported  goods,  when  it  was  proposed  to  increase  rates 
in  order  to  secure  revenue,  it  was  not  suggested  by  the 
most  extreme  advocates  of  the  protective  system  that 
our  industries  required  anything  like  such  high  rates  of 
duty  as  are  imposed  by  this  bill. 

"  For  instance,  there  are  a  few  persons  in  this  country 
who  believe  that  they  could  manufacture  tin  or  terne 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  129 

plate  if  those  who  use  that  necessary  article  were  com- 
pelled by  law  to  pay  a  higher  tax  upon  it,  and  accord- 
ingly the  bill  now  reported  proposes  to  more  than 
double  the  duties.  This  will  injuriously  affect  the 
interests  of  thousands  of  laborers  now  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  tin  cans  and  other  vessels  used  in 
canning  fruit,  vegetables,  meats,  and  fish,  in  nearly 
every  part  of  the  country,  and  it  will  constitute  a  direct 
charge  upon  the  producers  and  consumers  of  those 
various  kinds  of  food ;  but  the  theory  upon  which  this 
bill  is  based  takes  no  account  of  the  welfare  of  this 
great  mass  of  American  citizens  so  long  as  two  or 
three  firms  or  corporations  insist  that  the  tax  will  be 
beneficial  to  them. 

"  At  the  same  time  the  bill  proposes  to  make  enor- 
mous increases  in  the  rates  on  woolen  goods,  which  all 
our  people  are  compelled  to  purchase  and  use,  and  very 
large  increases  in  the  rates  on  some  kinds  of  cotton  and 
linen  goods  which  are  absolutely  necessary  for  the 
health  and  comfort  of  all  classes.  The  increase  of 
taxes  on  wool  and  woolen  and  worsted  goods,  including 
carpets,  amounts  to  about  $15,500,000  per  annum,  esti- 
mated upon  the  importations  of  the  last  fiscal  year  ;  but 
in  fact  it  will  be  many  times  that  amount  by  reason 
of  the  enhanced  prices  which  consumers  will  be  com- 
pelled to  pay  for  the  domestic  product.  While  the  bill 
proposes  to  make  this  large  addition  to  the  tax  on  woolen 
clothing  and  carpets,  it  also  proposes  to  abolish  the 
internal  revenue  taxes  to  the  amount  of  $8,860,994.75 
on  manufactured  chewing  and  smoking  tobacco  and 
snuff,  articles  which  certainly  can  not  be  classed  among 
the  necessaries  of  life.  While  we  would  be  willing 


130  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

to  repeal  the  internal  revenue  taxes  on  tobacco  in  con- 
nection with  the  reductions  upon  other  articles  which 
the  people  are  obliged  to  use,  as  was  proposed  in  the 
bill  which  passed  the  last  House,  we  can  not  agree  to  a 
measure  which  provides  for  the  abolition  of  any  part  of 
such  taxes  and  at  the  same  time  increases  the  rates  of 
duty  of  cotton,  woolen,  and  linen  clothing,  and  on 
earthenware,  glassware,  table  cutlery,  and  many  forms 
of  iron  and  steel  which  can  not  be  dispensed  with. 
"  We  can  not  undertake  here  to  point  out  in  detail  the 
numerous  increases  in  the  rates  of  duty  on  imported 
goods  which  this  bill  proposes  to  make,  but  a  few  will 
suffice  to  show  the  general  character  of  the  measure 
and  the  purpose  of  its  authors  and  supporters.  The 
lowest  grades  of  woolen  yarn,  worth  not  over  30  cents 
per  pound,  are  to  be  subjected  to  a  duty  of  112  per 
cent,  while  the  most  costly  yarn  will  pay  72  per  cent. 
One  grade  of  coarse,  cheap  blankets  will  be  required  to 
pay  106  per  cent,  but  the  finest  blankets  will  pay  72 
per  cent.  The  coarsest  and  cheapest  woolen  hats  will 
be  subject  to  a  duty  of  111  per  cent,  and  the  finest 
to  66  per  cent.  Women's  and  children's  cheapest  dress 
goods  with  cotton  warp  are  to  be  taxed  106  per  cent, 
and  the  finest  73  per  cent.  The  lowest  grade  of  woolen 
cloths  will  pay  125  per  cent,  and  the  highest  grade 
86  per  cent.  The  cheapest  qualities  of  knit  goods  for 
underwear  range  from  112  to  138  per  cent,  but  the 
finest  and  most  expensive  will  pay  78  percent  Woolen 
shawls  of  the  coarest  and  lowest  grade  used  by  the 
poorest  people,  will  pay  135  per  cent,  duty,  and  worsted 
goods  of  the  lowest  grade  will  pay  130  per  cent,  while 
the  highest  grade  will  pay  90  per  cent. 


OP  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  131 

"  There  are  many  increases  of  the  rates  on  iron  and 
steel  and  scarcely  any  reduction  on  articles  which  can 
be  imported  at  all  under  the  existing  rates.  The  re- 
ductions in  this  schedule,  as  a  general  rule,  will  not 
diminish  taxation  to  any  appreciable  extent,  while  all 
the  increases  are  so  arranged  as  to  obstruct  importations 
and  enhance  the  prices  of  the  domestic  articles  of  the 
same  kind.  On  common  table  cutlery  the  new  rates  of 
duty  imposed  by  this  bill  are  very  largely  in  excess  of 
the  old  ones  under  which  our  manufacturing  establish^ 
ments  have  been  successfully  carried  on  for  many  years, 
and  on  the  cheaper  grades  of  pocket  knives,  and  razors 
especially,  the  rates  are  greatly  increased. 

"  When  the  existing  tariff  was  enacted  in  1883, 
large  increases  were  made  in  the  rates  of  duty  on  earth- 
enware and  glassware,  and  this  was  justified  upon  the 
ground  that  the  law  then  passed  abolished  the  duty 
upon  the  packages  in  which  these  articles  were  shipped 
into  this  country ;  and  it  was  contended  that  in  view  of 
this  fact  the  actual  net  increase  of  duty  would  be  com- 
paratively small.  Experience  has  shown,  however,  that 
notwithstanding  the  abolition  of  the  duty  on  packages 
there  was  a  large  increase  of  taxation  in  this  schedule 
under  that  act,  and  therefore  there  ought  now  to  be  a 
reduction  even  if  the  packages  remain  free.  But  at  the 
present  session  of  Congress  a  bill  has  passed  the  House, 
and  is  now  pending  in  the  Senate,  reimposing  the  du- 
ties on  the  packages,  and  the  bill  reported  by  the  major- 
ity proposes  to  make  still  further  increases  in  the  rates 
of  duty  upon  the  goods,  especially  upon  glass  and  glass- 
ware. Common  window  glass,  not  exceeding  16  by  24 
inches  square,  is  increased  to  123  per  cent.;  not  exceed- 


132  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

ing  24  by  30  inches  square  is  raised  to  over  135  per 
cent,  and  all  sizes  above  that  are  raised  to  over  138  per 
cent,  while  there  are  very  large  increases  upon  bottles 
and  various  other  manufactures  of  glass. 

"  Camel's  hair,  a  raw  material  extensively  used  in  this 
country  in  the  manufacture  of  certain  kinds  of  goods, 
and  which  has  been  admitted  free  of  duty  for  a  great 
many  years,  is  by  this  bill  taken  from  the  free  list  and 
subjected  to  a  tax  of  twelve  cents  per  pound,  which  is 
equivalent  to  77  per  cent,  ad  valorem.  During  the  last 
fiscal  year  we  imported,  free  of  duty,*  6,648,097  pounds 
of  this  material,  which  is  absolutely  necessary  to  enable 
some  of  our  manufacturing  establishments  to  carry  on 
their  business  and  supply  the  goods  they  are  now  mak- 
ing for  their  customers ;  but  if  this  bill  passes  and  the 
same  quantity  is  imported  next  year  it  will  cost  tho. 
people  $797,771.64  in  addition  to  the  value  of  the  hair 
itself. 

"The  bill  proposes  to  make  large  increases  in  the 
duties  on  carpel,  wools,  and  take  silver  ores  containing 
lead  from  the  free  list  and  subject  the  lead  contained  in 
the  silver  ore  to  a  duty  of  1J  cents  per  pound,  not 
because  we  need  the  revenue,  but  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  preventing  these  articles  from  being  imported  into 
this  country.  Last  year  we  imported  direct  from  the 
States  and  Republics  of  Central  and  South  America 
and  the  Republic  of  Mexico  many  million  pounds  of 
this  wool,  and  still  more  by  way  of  London  and  other 
European  ports,  and  from  Mexico  silver  ores  bearing 
lead  of  the  value  of  $6,779,160.  Our  total  importations 
of  carpet  wools  from  all  countries  amounted  to  96,556,- 
466  pounds,  and  our  total  importation  of  this  kind  of  ore 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  f  133 

was  $6,951,719.  All  this  wool  has  been  converted  into 
carpets  and  other  fabrics,  and  all  these  ores  have  been 
smelted  in  the  United  States  by  American  workmen, 
and  their  importation  has  been  of  great  benefit  to  our 
people,  in  addition  to  the  profit  realized  from  the  trade 
between  the  different  countries.  The  free  admission  of 
fluxing  ores  from  Mexico  has  enabled  our  citizens  to 
establish  and  maintain  large  smelting  works  at  El  Paso, 
Texas,  Argentine,  Kansas,  Newark,  N.  J.,  Kansas  City, 
Mo.,  and  a  great  many  other  places.  If  this  bill  passes 
the  tax  upon  66,000  tons  of  silver  ore,  the  amount  im- 
ported last  year,  will  be  over  $672,000,  which  the  Gov- 
ernment does  not  need  and  which  will  benefit  nobody 
in  this  country.  The  bill  in  fact  increases  the  rates  of 
duty  on  all  classes  of  wool  imported  into  this  country. 
"For  the  further  purpose  of  inducing  the  far- 
mers of  the  country  to  believe  that  they  can  and 
will  derive  some  benefit  from  the  protective  policy, 
this  bill  imposes  various  rates  of  duty  upon  certain 
important  agricultural  products,  which  it  is  well 
known  could  not  be  imported  to  any  material  extent 
with  or  without  duty.  For  instance,  corn  is  subjected 
to  a  duty  of  15  cents  a  bushel;  corn  meal,  20  cents  per 
bushel;  oats,  15  cents  per  bushel;  rye,  10  cents  per 
bushel ;  wheat,  25  cents  per  bushel ;  wheat  flour,  25 
per  cent,  ad  valorem  ;  apples,  green  or  ripe,  25  cents 
per  bushel;  apples,  dried,  2  cents  per  pound;  bacon 
and  hams,  5  cents  per  pound ;  beef,  mutton,  and  pork, 
2  cents  per  pound  ;  lard,  2  cents  per  pound,  and  tallow, 
1  cent  per  pound.  We  produce  a  great  surplus  of  all 
these  articles  and  many  others  every  year,  which  we  are 
compelled  to  send  abroad  and  sell  in  the  free  markets 


134  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

of  the  world  in  competition  with  similar  products  of 
other  countries.  It  is  impossible  to  protect  the  farmer 
against  foreign  competition  in  his  home  market,  for  he 
has  no  such  competition,  and  the  insertion  or  retention 
of  these  articles  in  a  tariff  bill  is  a  device  which  will  de- 
ceive no  one  who  gives  a  moment's  thought  to  the 
subject. 

"  Under  the  existing  law  animals  for  breeding  pur- 
poses are  admitted  free  of  duty  and  all  others  are  sub- 
ject to  a  tax  of  20  per  cent,  ad  valorem  ;  but  the  bill  re- 
ported proposes  largely  to  increase  this  tax  and  make  it 
specific.  It  is  proposed  to  levy  an  import  duty  of  $30 
per  head  on  all  horses  and  mules;  $10  per  head  on  all 
cattle  over  one  year  old,  and  $2  per  head  on  all  under 
that  age,  and  $1.50  per  head  on  hogs  and  sheep. 
Horses,  valued  at  $150  and  over,  will  pay  a  duty  of  30 
per  cent.,  and  all  animals  imported  especially  for  breed- 
ing purposes  will  still  be  admitted  free,  but  they  must 
be  of  pure  blood,  of  a  recognized  breed,  and  must  have 
been  duly  registered  abroad  in  the  book  of  records  es- 
tablished for  that  breed.  All  these  increases  of  duties 
are  claimed  to  be  in  the  interest  of  farmers,  but  in  fact 
they  will  be  vastly  more  injurious  to  them  and  to  dairy- 
men than  to  any  other  class  of  our  people.  Last  year 
we  imported  dutiable  horses  to  the  number  of  52,454, 
of  the  average  value  of  $42.81;  cattle,  62,380,  of  the 
average  value  of  $9.68;  hogs,  2,396,  of  the  average 
value  of  $3.28;  and  sheep,  454,010,  of  the  average 
value  of  $2.98.  These  animals  were  brought  here 
mainly,  if  not  entirely,  by  the  farmers  themselves,  or  on 
their  account,  to  replenish  their  stock  of  work  beasts, 
milch  cows,  and  sheep  herds.  This  is  evident,  we 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  135 

think,  from  the  low  prices  of  the  animals  and  the 
localities  from  which  they  were  imported.  For  in- 
stance, nearly  all  the  horses  imported  came  from  Mex- 
ico and  from  Quebec,  Ontario,  Manitoba,  and  the 
Northwest  Territory,  and  the  average  value  of  the 
29,590  brought  from  Mexico  was  $8.80,  while  the  aver- 
age value  of  the  17,470  brought  from  the  Dominion  was 
only  a  little  over  $100.  These  were  not  expensive  ani- 
mals imported  for  racing  purposes,  or  for  use  in 
pleasure  carriages,  but  ordinary  stock  such  as  is  used 
upon  our  farms ;  and  it  is  evident  that  the  importations 
from  Mexico  were  ponies  for  use  on  the  sheep  and  cat- 
tle ranches  of  the  West.  The  duty  on  these  Mexican 
horses  last  year  amounted  to  $52,369,  but  if  this  bill 
passes,  and  the  same  number  is  imported  next  year,  the 
duty  will  amount  to  $887,700,  or  nearly  three  and  a 
half  times  their  value.  The  farmer  or  dairyman  who 
hereafter  imports  common  cattle  for  his  own  use  will 
be  required  to  pay  a  duty  of  over  100  per  cent.,  ac- 
cording to  the  average  value  of  the  importations  of  last 
year,  and  he  can  not  import  an  ordinary  animal  of  any 
kind  for  breeding  purposes  free  of  duty,  as  fine  stock 
may  be  imported,  because  such  an  animal  is  not  pure 
bred,  and  is  therefore  not  registered  abroad.  How  the 
farmers  are  to  be  helped  by  the  increased  duties  on  live 
animals  we  are  wholly  unable  to  see,  and,  in  our  opin- 
ion, if  this  bill  passes,  they  will  be  the  first  to  demand 
a  restoration  of  the  old  rates,  or  that  these  importations 
may  be  free. 

"  The  bill  proposes  to  admit,  free  of  duty,  all  sugar 
up  to  and  including  No.  16  Dutch  standard  in  color, 
and  pay  to  the  sugar  producers  in  this  country  a  bounty 


136  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

of  two  cents  per  pound  each  year  until  July  1,  1905,  on 
their  product.  Last  year  these  grades  of  sugar  which 
are  now  made  free,  yielded  to  the  Government  $54,- 
894,181,  all  of  which  is  now  to  be  surrendered,  and  the 
sugar  industry  is  to  become  an  annual  charge  upon  all 
the  people  who  are  engaged  in  other  occupations,  some 
of  which  are  far  more  important  and  all  of  which  are 
fully  as  meritorious  as  this  one.  In  1888,  which  is  the 
last  year  for  which  we  have  complete  returns,  the  sugar 
product  in  this  country  was  375,855,877  pounds,  so 
that  even  should  there  be  no  increased  production 
under  the  bounty  system  the  sum  which  the  people  are 
to  be  compelled  to  donate  each  year  for  the  support  of 
this  favorite  industry  will  be  $7,520,000,  or  $113,000,- 
000  during  the  fifteen  years.  But  the  very  object  of 
the  bounty  is  to  encourage  the  production  of  this  ar- 
ticle, and  its  advocates  claim  that  in  a  few  years  it  will 
result  in  a  domestic  supply  equal  to  the  whole  demand 
for  home  consumption,  In  addition  to  the  home  prod- 
uct we  imported  and  consumed  during  the  last  fiscal 
year  2,700,421,302  pounds  of  sugar  not  above  No.  16  in 
color,  making  a  total  annual  consumption,  including 
domestic  and  imported,  of  3,076,277,079  pounds,  and 
therefore,  if  the  system  results  as  its  advocates  predict, 
the  annual  payment  out  of  the  Treasury  will  be  $61,- 
528,426,  even  without  any  increase  in  the  amount  now 
consumed.  We  protest  against  the  gross  favoritism 
and  injustice  of  such  a  policy,  and  we  deny  the  moral 
or  constitutional  right  of  the  Government  to  tax  the 
people  who  grow  corn,  wheat,  cotton,  rye,  oats,  and 
other  agricultural  products  for  the  purpose  of  raising 
money  to  be  given  to  those  who  produce  sugar  or  any 
other  article. 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  137 

"  It  is  impossible  to  state  with  entire  accuracy  how 
much  the  bill  increases  taxes  upon  imported  goods,  for 
the  reason  that  there  are  many  large  increases  of  taxa- 
tion made  by  it  which  are  not  exhibited  in  the  table 
submitted  by  the  Committee.  This  table  shows  that, 
omitting  the  sugar  schedule,  there  has  been  added  to 
the  duties  on  the  articles  still  remaining  on  the  dutia- 
ble list  the  sum  of  $40,055,152.33;  but  in  addition  to 
this,  after  January  1,  1894,  the  duties  on  brown  and 
bleached  linens,  ducks,  canvas,  handkerchiefs,  or  other 
woven  fabrics,  composed  of  flax,  hemp,  jute,  or  of 
which  flax,  hemp,  or  jute,  or  either  of  them,  shall  be 
the  component  material  of  cheap  value,  containing  one 
hundred  or  more  threads  to  the  square  inch,  counting 
either  the  warp  or  filling,  will  be  increased  to  the 
amount  of  $1,574,954.57  more  than  is  shown  by  the 
tables ;  and  after  July  1,  1891,  the  duty  on  tin  or  terne 
plate  will  be  $8,371,378.67  greater  than  it  was  last  year 
upon  the  same  importation,  and  the  increase  in  the 
tobacco  schedule  is,  as  nearly  as  we  can  calculate  it, 
$6,551,855.41  more  than  the  tables  show.  In  our  opin- 
ion the  increase  in  the  tobacco  schedule,  resulting 
mainly  from  the  imposition  of  a  duty  of  $2  per  pound 
on  unstemmed  leaf  for  cigar  wrappers,  will  be  $16,305,- 
925  instead  of  $9,754,069.59,  as  shown  by  the  tables, 
and  we  are  confident  that  an  analysis  of  our  importa- 
tions of  that  article  for  a  series  of  years  past  will  sus- 
tain our  position.  Even  the  comparatively  brief  exami- 
nation we  have  been  able  to  make  has  disclosed  other 
increases  not  shown  by  the  calculations  contained  in 
the  tables,  amounting  to  the  sum  of  over  $8,000,000, 
and  there  are  many  others  which  can  not  be  accurately 


138  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

ascertained  for  the  want  of  sufficient  data  as  to  prices 
and  quantities  of  importations  of  last  year.  Adding 
these  amounts  to  the  $40,055,152.33,  shows  a  total  in- 
crease of  duties  on  articles  still  dutiable,  outside  of  the 
sugar  schedule,  of  about  $65,000,000,  and  we  are  satis- 
fied it  is  more  than  that.  We  do  not  mean  to  assert 
that  the  bill  actually  increases  the  customs  revenue 
$65,000,000  over  what  it  is  under  existing  law,  but 
that  it  proposes  to  impose  upon  the  articles  it  leaves 
upon  the  dutiable  list,  except  sugar  and  molasses,  that 
sum  in  excess  of  the  amount  collected  on  the  same 
schedules  last  year.  It  places  upon  the  free  list  articles 
which  yielded  a  revenue  of  $6,039,969  during  the  last 
fiscal  year,  and  it  makes  a  reduction  of  $54,922,110.56 
on  sugar  and  molasses,  and  these  two  sums,  amounting 
to  $60,962,079.63,  being  deducted  from  the  $65,000,000 
leave  a  net  increase  of  more  than  $4,000,000  in  tariff 
taxation  under  this  bill.  While  the  bill  proposes  to 
transfer  from  the  dutiable  schedules  to  the  free  list  arti- 
cles which  last  year  yielded  a  revenue  of  $6,039,969.07, 
it  proposes  also  to  transfer  from  the  free  list  to  the 
dutiable  list  certain  articles,  principally  raw  materials 
used  in  manufactures,  which,  according  to  the  importa- 
tions during  the  last  fiscal  year,  will  yield  a  revenue  of 
nearly  $3,500,000. 

The  bill  came  to  a  vote,  on  the  question  of  passage, 
on  May  21st,  its  opponents  making  a  final  effort  at 
its  defeat  on  the  following  motion  :  Mr.  Carlisle  moved 
that  "the  pending  bill  be  recommitted  to  the 
Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  with  instructions  to 
report  the  same  back  to  the  House  at  the  earliest 
possible  day  so  amended  by  substitute  or  otherwise  as 


OF  HENRY 'CLAY  AND  SINCE.  139 

to  reduce  the  revenues  of  the  Government  by  reducing 
the  burdens  of  taxation  upon  the  people,  instead  of 
reducing  the  revenues  by  imposing  prohibitory  rates 
of  taxation  upon  imported  goods," — which  was 
disagreed  to,  yeas  140,  all  Democrats;  nays  164, 
all  Republicans.  The  bill  was  then  passed — yeas  164, 
all  Republicans  ;  nays  142,  all  Democrats  but  two,  one 
Republican  and  one  Independent,  while  twenty-one 
members,  six  Republicans  and  fifteen  Democrats  did 
not  vote.  New  England  cast  twenty-one  votes  for  the 
bill  and  three  against  it;  the  Middle  States,  yeas 
forty-eight,  nays  twenty-eight ;  the  Western  and  North- 
western States,  yeas  seventy -five,  nays  thirty-one;  the 
Southern  and  Southwestern,  yeas  eleven,  nays  seventy- 
eight,  and  the  Pacific,  yeas  nine,  nays  two. 

The  bill  was  reported  by  Mr.  Morrill  from  the 
Senate  Finance  Committee  on  June  18th,  and  was 
constantly  considered,  with  various  intervals,  in  Com- 
mittee of  the  Whole,  until  September  8th.  An  interest- 
ing colloquy  occurred  between  Senators  McPherson  and 
Sherman  on  July  25th,  occasioned  by  the  motion 
of  the  former  to  recommit  the  bill  to  the  Finance 
Committee  with  instructions  to  prepare  a  bill  which 
would  "  reduce  the  average  ad  valorem  rate  of  duty  on 
dutiable  articles,  based  upon  the  importations  of  1889, 
so  as  not  to  exceed  the  average  ad  valorem  war  tariff 
rate  of  1864,"  which  he  stated  to  be  39.69  per  cent. 
To  this  Mr.  Sherman  replied,  "  that  while  the  rate  of 
duty  on  dutiable  articles  is  a  little  less  than  52  per 
cent,  under  the  pending  bill,  yet  on  the  whole  list  of 
articles  taken  together  the  average  rate  of  duty  is  only 
about  27  per  cent.  Nearly  fifty  per  cent,  or  half  our 


140  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

importations  under  the  proposed  act,  are  entirely  free 
of  duty,  while  under  the  act  of  1864  only  fifteen 
to  eighteen  per  cent,  of  the  articles  were  free 
of  duty.  The  value  of  the  goods  that  have  heretofore 
paid  duty  that  are  made  free  by  this  bill  is  $108,919, 
907 ;  which  added  to  the  value  of  those  free  now  makes 
the  grand  aggregate  of  $365,494,573  as  the  value  of  all 
of  the  articles  that  will  be  admitted  free  of  duty  under 
the  new  law.  This  is  much  the  largest  free  list  ever 
known  in  the  history  of  the  country,  and  almost  equals 
the  value  of  the  articles  on  which  duties  will  be  levied 
by  this  bill,  for  while  $365,494,537  of  imported  goods 
are  admitted  free  of  duty,  according  to  the  figures  of 
last  year,  $390,437,117  are  subject  to  duty." 

"Now,  the  striking  difference  between  the  tariff 
policy  of  1864  and  1890,"  said  Mr  Sherman,  "is  this  : 
In  1864  we  were  involved  in  war;  we  levied  tariff 
duties  on  almost  every  article  of  necessity,  as  well  as 
those  articles  that  we  manufacture  in  this  country,  and 
therefore  we  levied  duties  not  only  on  sugar,  but  on 
tea,  coffee,  and  almost  everything  else,  and  when  at 
that  time  the  duties  amounted  to  46  per  cent,  on  the 
average,  they  were  upon  all  articles  imported  practi- 
cally. The  free  list  was  then  only  10,  or  12,  or  15  per 
cent,  but  now  on  account  of  the  change  of  con- 
ditions, from  the  fact  that  we  wish  to  admit  duty  free 
all  articles  that  we  can  not  produce  in  this  country,  we 
admit  substantially  one-half  of  all  imported  goods 
into  this  country  free  of  duty,  and  we  propose  an 
average  duty  of  52  per  cent,  upon  those  articles  that 
we  think  we  ought  to  make  and  can  make  in  this 
country,  and  for  which  we  seek  by  these  duties  not 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  Ul 

only  to  get  sufficient  revenue  to  cany  on  the  Govern- 
ment, but  also  to  protect  and  foster  and  build  up 
American  industry  at  the  same  time." 

The  motion  to  recommit  was  lost — yeas  nineteen,  all 
Democrats ;  nays  twenty-nine,  all  Republicans. 

On  September  8th,  what  was  known  as  "  the  Reci- 
procity Amendment,"  by  Mr.  Aldrich,  of  Rhode  Island, 
was  agreed  to — yeas  37,  all  Republicans ;  nays  28,  all 
Democrats  but  two.  This  policy  had  been  recom- 
mended by  the  International  American  Conference  then 
in  session  in  this  country,  and  was  in  keeping  with  the 
long  cherished  policy  of  Mr.  Blaine  and  the  recommen- 
dations of  President  Harrison  in  his  special  message  to 
Congress  of  June  19, 1890,  in  which  he  said: 

11  It  has  been  so  often  and  so  persistently  stated  that 
our  tariff  laws  offer  an  insurmountable  barrier  to  a 
large  exchange  of  products  with  the  Latin-American 
nations  that  I  deem  it  proper  to  call  especial  attention 
to  the  fact  that  more  than  87  per  cent,  of  the  products 
of  these  nations  sent  to  our  ports  are  now  admitted 
free.  If  sugar  is  placed  upon  the  free  list,  practically 
every  important  article  exported  from  those  states  will 
be  given  untaxed  access  to  our  markets,  except  wool. 
The  real  difficulty  in  the  way  of  negotiating  profitable 
reciprocity  treaties  is  that  we  have  given  freely  so  much 
that  would  have  had  value  in  the  mutual  concessions 
which  such  treaties  imply.  I  cannot  doubt,  however, 
that  the  present  advantages  which  the  products  of  these 
near  and  friendly  states  enjoy  in  our  markets — though 
they  are  not  by  law  exclusive — will,  with  other  consid- 
erations, favorably  dispose  them  to  adopt  such  meas- 
ures, by  treaty,  or  otherwise,  as  will  tend  to  equalize 
and  greatly  enlarge  our  mutual  exchanges." 


142  THE  TAEIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

The  Aldrich  amendment  was  also  agreed  to  in  open 
Senate — yeas  38,  nays  29;  and  the  bill  was  passed,  as 
amended,  on  September  llth — yeas  40,  all  Republicans, 
nays,  29,  all  Democrats.  On  September  15th  the 
House  declined  to  agree  to  the  Senate  amendments  and 
a  Committee  of  Conference  was  appointed — Messrs. 
Aldrich,  Sherman,  Allison,  Hiscock,  Vorhees,  Vance, 
and  Carlisle,  for  the  Senate,  and  Messrs.  McKinley, 
Burrows,  Bayne,  Dingley,  McMillan,  Flower,  and 
Turner,  of  Georgia,  for  the  House.  The  bill  as  it 
passed  the  House  contained  nearly  4,000  items  and  was 
amended  by  the  Senate  in  445  particulars,  more  than  a 
hundred  of  which  were  purely  verbal,  and  most  of  the 
others  so  slight  and  unimportant  that  an  agreement 
was  quickly  reached.  The  changes  by  the  Senate  in 
the  metal  schedule  were  important,  and  for  the  most 
part  acceded  to  by  the  House  conferees,  while  in 
woolens,  silks,  flax,  wood,  and  paper  the  Senate  con- 
ferees conceded  the  demands  of  the  House.  Sugar 
evoked  the  most  serious  contention,  and  in  this  sched- 
ule a  compromise  was  effected  ;  sugar  up  to  No.  16 
Dutch  standard  was  made  free,  and  that  above  this 
grade  dutiable  at  a  half  cent  per  pound,  with  an  addi- 
tional rate  of  one-tenth  of  a  cent  upon  all  sugars  coming 
from  countries  where  an  export  bounty  is  paid  to  the 
domestic  producers.  Binding  twine,  after  much  dispu- 
tation, was  finally  made  dutiable  at  seven- tenths  of  a 
cent  a  pound,  and  sulphuric  acid,  for  agricultural  pur- 
poses, was  made  free.  The  Aldrich  reciprocity  amend- 
ment was  accepted  by  the  House  conferees ;  while  the 
internal  revenue  sections  were  in  the  main  accepted  by 
the  Senate  Committee  as  the  House  had  passed  them. 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  H3 

The  bill,  as  finally  agreed  upon,  was  protective  in 
every  paragraph,  and  American  in  every  line  and  word. 
It  recognized  and  fully  enforced  the  economic  principle 
of  protection,  which  the  Republican  party  from  its  birth 
had  steadfastly  advocated,  and  that  had  always  secured 
to  the  country  the  greatest  prosperity. 

The  Democratic  members  of  the  Conference  Com- 
mittee declined  to  unite  in  the  report,  but  it  was 
nevertheless  accepted  by  both  branches  of  Congress. 
The  House  concurred  in  it  on  September  27th — yeas 
152,  all  Republicans;  nays  81,  all  Democrats  but  two. 
Thirty- eight  members  were  paired  and  fifty-five  Demo- 
crats did  not  vote.  In  the  Senate  the  report  was 
adopted  on  September  30th — yeas  33,  all  Republicans; 
nays  27,  all  Democrats,  except  three ;  and  twenty -two 
Senators  were  paired  and  did  not  vote.  The  law  was 
approved  by  President  Harrison  on  the  following  day, 
and,  except  where  otherwise  especially  provided,  went 
into  effect  on  October  6,  1890. 

But  its  passage  was  hardly  effected  before  the  general 
election  occurred,  and  at  this  the  Republicans  were 
badly  defeated.  The  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
Fifty-second  Congress,  elected  in  1890,  was  overwhelm- 
ingly Democratic,  that  party  electing  235  of  the  332 
members. 

President  Harrison  gave  the  tariff  due  and  careful 
consideration  in  his  second  annual  message  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  second  session  of  the  Fifty-first  Congress, 
December  1,  1890.  In  the  course  of  his  suggestions  he 
said  : 

"  The  general  trade  and  industrial  conditions  through- 
out the  country  during  the  year  have  shown  a  marked 


144:  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

improvement.  For  many  years  prior  to  1888  the  mer- 
chandise balances  of  foreign  trade  have  been  largely  in 
our  favor,  but  during  that  year  and  the  year  following 
they  turned  against  us.  It  is  very  gratifying  to  know 
that  the  last  fiscal  year  again  shows  a  balance  in  our 
favor  of  over  $68,000,000.  There  were  three  hundred 
less  failures  reported  in  October,  1890,  than  in  the 
same  month  of  the  preceding  year,  with  liabilities  dimin- 
ished by  about  $5,000,000.  The  value  of  our  exports 
of  domestic  merchandise  during  the  last  year  was  over 
$115,000,000  greater  than  the  preceding  year,  and  was 
only  exceeded  once  in  our  history.  About  $100,000,000 
of  this  excess  was  in  agricultural  products.  The  pro- 
duction of  pig  iron — always  a  good  gauge  of  general 
prosperity — is  shown  by  a  recent  census  bulletin  to  have 
been  153  per  cent,  greater  in  1890  than  in  1880,  and  the 
production  of  steel  290  per  cent,  greater.  Mining  in 
coal  has  had  no  limitation  except  that  resulting  from 
deficient  transportation.  The  general  testimony  is  that 
labor  is  everywhere  fully  employed,  and  the  reports  for 
the  last  year  show  a  smaller  number  of  employes 
affected  by  strikes  and  lockouts  than  in  any  year  since 
1884.  The  depression  in  the  prices  of  agricultural 
products  has  been  greatly  relieved,  and  a  buoyant  and 
hopeful  time  was  beginning  to  be  felt  by  all  our  people. 
"  The  general  tariff  act  has  only  partially  gone  into 
operation,  some  of  its  important  provisions  being  limited 
to  take  effect  at  dates  yet  in  the  future.  The  general 
provisions  of  the  law  have  been  in  force  less  than  sixty 
days.  Its  permanent  effect  upon  trade  and  prices  still 
largely  stands  in  conjecture.  It  is  curious  to  know  that 
the  advance  in  the  prices  of  articles  wholly  unaffected 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  145 

by  the  tariff  act  was  by  many  hastily  ascribed  to  that 
act.  There  is  neither  wisdom  nor  justice  in  the  sugges- 
tion that  the  subject  of  tariff  revision  shall  be  again 
opened  before  this  law  has  had  a  fair  trial.  It  is  quite 
true  that  every  tariff  schedule  is  subject  to  objections. 
No  bill  was  ever  framed,  I  suppose,  that  in  all  of  its 
rates  and  classifications  had  the  full  approval  even  of  a 
party  caucus.  Such  legislation  is  always  and  neces- 
sarily the  product  of  compromise  as  to  details,  and  the 
present  law  is  no  exception.  But  in  its  general  scope 
and  effect  I  think  it  will  justify  the  support  of  those 
who  believe  that  American  legislation  should  conserve 
and  defend  American  trade  and  the  wages  of  American 
workmen. 

"  The  criticisms  of  the  bill  that  have  come  to  us  from 
foreign  sources  may  well  be  rejected  for  repugnancy. 
If  these  critics  really  believe  that  the  adoption  by  us  of 
a  free  trade  policy,  or  of  tariff  rates  having  reference 
solely  to  revenue,  would  diminish  the  participation  of 
their  own  countries  in  the  commerce  of  the  world,  their 
advocacy  and  promotion  by  speech  and  other  forms  of 
organized  effort  of  this  movement  among  our  people  is  a 
rare  exhibition  of  unselfishness  in  trade.  And  on  the 
other  hand,  if  they  sincerely  believe  that  the  adoption 
of  a  protective-tariff  policy  by  this  country  inures  to 
their  profit  and  our  hurt,  it  is  noticeably  strange  that 
they  should  lead  the  outcry  against  the  authors  of  a 
policy  so  helpful  to  their  countrymen,  and  crown  with 
their  favor  those  who  would  snatch  from  them  a  sub- 
stantial share  of  a  trade  with  other  lands  already  in- 
adequate to  their  necessities.  There  is  no  disposition 
among  any  of  our  people  to  promote  prohibitory  or 


146  THE  TAKIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

retaliatory  legislation.  Our  policies  are  adopted  not  to 
the  hurt  of  others,  but  to  secure  for  ourselves  those 
advantages  that  fairly  grow  out  of  our  favored  position 
as  a  nation.  Our  form  of  government,  with  its  incident 
of  universal  suffrage,  makes  it  imperative  that  we  shall 
save  our  working  people  from  the  agitations  and  dis- 
tresses which  scant  work  and  wages  that  have  no 
margin  for  comfort  always  beget.  But  after  all  this  is 
done  it  will  be  found  that  our  markets  are  open  to 
friendly  commercial  exchanges  of  enormous  value  to 
the  other  great  powers.  From  the  time  of  my  induc- 
tion into  office  the  duty  of  using  every  power  and 
influence  given  by  law  to  the  Executive  Department 
for  the  development  of  larger  markets  for  our  products, 
especially  our  farm  products,  has  been  kept  constantly 
in  mind,  and  no  effort  has  been  or  will  be  spared  to 
promote  that  end.  We  are  under  no  disadvantage  in 
any  foreign  market,  except  that  we  pay  our  workmen 
and  workwomen  better  wages  than  are  paid  elsewhere 
— better  abstractly,  better  relatively  to  the  cost  of  the 
necessaries  of  life.  I  do  not  doubt  that  a  very  largely 
increased  foreign  trade  is  accessible  to  us  without 
bartering  for  it  either  our  home  market  for  such  pro- 
ducts of  the  farm  and  shop  as  our  own  people  can 
supply,  or  the  wages  of  our  working  people." 

Several  labor  bills  were  considered  by  the  Fifty-first 
Congress.  On  August  29,  1890,  Hon.  W.  J.  Connell, 
of  Nebraska,  reported  a  bill  to  the  effect  that  eight 
hours  should  constitute  a  day's  work  for  all  employes 
of  the  Government,  reference  being  especially  had  to 
the  District  of  Columbia,  and  providing  severe  penal- 
ties for  all  violations  of  the  law.  The  House  rejected 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  147 

a  motion  (by  Hon.  William  J.  Mutehler,  Dem.,  of 
Pennsylvania)  to  strike  out  the  section  relating  to 
penalties  by  the  vote  yeas  38,  nays  107  and  passed 
the  bill  without  a  division.  It  was  favorably  reported 
by  the  Committee  on  Labor  in  the  Senate,  but  failed 
because  a  vote  upon  it  was  not  reached. 

On  August  30th,  Hon.  William  H.  Wade,  of  Mis- 
souri, reported  an  important  bill  providing  for  the 
adjustment  of  the  accounts  of  laborers,  workmen  and 
mechanics  arising  under  the  eight-hour  law.  An 
amendment  by  the  Hon.  Mark  S.  Brewer,  of  Michigan, 
was  agreed  to — yeas  57,  nays  53 — and  the  bill  was 
passed  by  the  House  without  a  division. 

In  the  Senate,  on  September  27th,  the  proviso  by  Mr. 
Brewer  was  stricken  from  the  bill  by  the  vote,  yeas  37, 
nays  12,  but  the  bill  was  not  further  considered  at  the 
first  session.  On  February  7,  1891,  however,  it  was 
again  taken  up  and  several  amendments  agreed  to 
when,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Wolcott,  of  Colorado,  it  was 
recommitted  to  the  Committee  on  Labor.  On  February 
28th,  Mr.  Blair,  of  New  Hampshire,  reported  a  substi- 
tute for  the  House  bill,  but  in  the  hurry  and  rush  of 
the  close  of  the  session  no  vote  was  had  upon  it. 

On  August  30,  1890,  Mr.  Wade  reported  a  bill  from 
the  Committee  on  Labor  "  to  prohibit  the  importation 
and  migration  of  f  oreigners  and  aliens  under  contract  or 
agreement  to  perform  labor"  in  this  country.  There 
was  but  little  opposition  to  the  measure  and  after  the 
rejection  of  an  amendment  (offered  by  Hon.  John  Dal- 
zell,  of  Pennsylvania)  to  the  fifth  section  providing  for 
the  importation  of  skilled  laborors  in  certain  cases  on  the 
approval  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  Attorney 


148  THE  TABIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

General,  it  was  passed  by  the  House  without  a  division. 
The  bill  was  considered  by  the  Senate  on  September 
27th,  and  various  amendments  were  agreed  to,  but  no 
decisive  action  was  ever  taken  upon  it. 

On  the  same  day,  August  30th,  Mr.  Wade  reported 
a  second  bill,  from  the  Committee  on  Labor,  to  prevent 
the  employment  of  convicts  on  Government  work,  and 
it,  too,  was  passed  by  the  House  without  amendment  or 
division.  It  was  reported  favorably  in  the  Senate,  but 
a  vote  was  not  taken  upon  it. 

A  third  bill  was  reported  to  the  House  the  same  day 
by  Mr.  Wade,  which  made  it  unlawful  for  any  agent  or 
officer  of  the  Government  to  purchase,  or  permit  to  be 
purchased  for  the  Government,  any  supplies  of  any  des- 
cription whatever,  which  were  in  whole  or  in  part  the 
product  of  convict  labor.  It  was  passed  by  the  House 
without  change  or  dissent  but  met  with  the  same  fate 
as  its  predecessors  in  the  Senate. 

We  have  seen  that  in  1862  Congress  levied  a  direct 
tax  upon  the  realty  of  the  country,  apportioned  among 
the  several  States  according  to  population.  The  States 
themselves  were  authorized  to  assume  the  collection 
and  payment  of  this  tax,  less  fifteen  per  cent,  for  the 
expense  and  trouble  of  collecting  it.  Nearly  all  the 
Northern  States  assumed  the  tax  and  paid  it  over  to  the 
Treasury  of  the  United  States,  but  in  all  of  the  eleven 
seceding  States  no  assumption  of  it  was  made.  The 
collectors,  however,  proceeded  as  far  as  practicable  to 
levy  and  enforce  the  tax,  and  in  this  way  they  gathered 
in  about  $2,250,000  in  round  numbers,  from  individual 
citizens  of  the  seceding  States.  The  balance  assessed 
against  these  States,  amounting  to  about  $2,500,000, 


OF  HENEY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  149 

was  never  recovered,  and  up  to  this  time  (1891)  still 
stood  against  them.  In  the  Fiftieth  Congress  a  bill 
was  passed  restoring  to  all  the  States  which  had  paid  this 
tax  the  amount  they  had  paid  the  Government  and  re- 
lieving the  States  from  which  the  tax  was  still  due  the 
amount  charged  against  them.  It  was  vetoed  by  Presi- 
dent Cleveland,  and  the  Senate,  on  March  2,  1889, 
passed  the  bill  over  his  veto.  But  the  bill  was  not 
reached  in  the  House  and  therefore  failed.  In  the 
Fifty-first  Congress,  the  Senate  again  passed  a  bill  at 
the  first  session,  but  the  House  did  not  reach  it  until 
the  next  session.  On  February  24,  1891,  however,  the 
House  agreed  to  an  amendment  by  Hon.  Lucian  B. 
Caswell,  of  Wisconsin,  and  passed  the  bill  by  a  vote  of 
172  to  101.  The  Senate  agreed  to  the  amendment  by 
the  House,  and  President  Harrison  approved  the  law  on 
March  2d.  Under  its  provisions  $15,227,632  were  dis- 
tributed among  the  several  States  and  Territories,  of 
which  sum  three  States  received  over  five  million  dol- 
lars ;  New  York  $2,213,330,  Pennsylvania  $1,634,711, 
and  Ohio  $1,332,025. 

One  of  the  most  important  acts  passed  at  the  second 
session  of  the  Fifty-first  Congress — affecting  as  it  did 
every  laborer  in  the  country — was  familiarly  known  as 
"  the  Owen  Immigration  Law,"  from  its  author,  Hon. 
William  D.  Owen,  of  Indiana.  It  was  an  amendment  to 
the  various  acts  relating  to  immigration,  and  to  the 
importation  of  aliens  under  contract  or  agreement  to 
perform  labor.  It  provided  a  new  method  for  the 
inspection  of  emigrant  ships,  agencies,  offices,  and 
stations,  and  fixed  more  definitely  the  responsibility  of 
steamship  or  transportation  companies,  and  the  owners 


150  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

of  vessels,  or  their  agents,  with  heavier  penalties  for 
the  violation  of  the  law.  Mr.  Owen  reported  the  bill 
from  the  Select  Committee  to  which  it  had  been 
referred  at  the  first  session,  on  February  24,  1891,  and 
Hon.  William  C.  Gates,  of  Alabama,  offered  a  sub- 
stitute amending  existing  statutes  but  making  less 
radical  changes.  This  substitute  was  rejected — yeas 
41,  Republicans  24,  Democrats  17;  nays  209,  Re- 
publicans 114,  Democrats  95;  while  39  Republicans 
and  45  Democrats  were  absent  or  did  not  vote.  The 
bill  was  then  passed  without  division  and  went  to  the 
Senate.  Here  it  was  passed  unanimously  on  February 
27th,  and  became  a  law  by  the  approval  of  President 
Harrison  on  March  3rd. 

What  was  known  as  "  the  Hawaiian  Treaty  Bill," 
was  reported  from  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee  on 
February  28,  1891,  and  passed  by  the  House  without 
division.  It  was  considered  in  the  Senate  on  March 
2nd  and  passed  without  opposition  and  on  the  day 
following  was  approved  by  President  Harrison.  A 
treaty  of  reciprocity  had  been  entered  into  between  the 
United  States  and  Hawaii  on  January  13,  1875,  and  ex- 
tended by  the  convention  proclaimed  November  9, 
1887,  and  this  law  simply  provided  that  nothing  in  the 
act  of  October  6,  1890,  should  be  held  to  repeal  or 
impair  the  provisions  of  the  foregoing  agreement. 

The  House  in  the  Fifty-second  Congress  organized 
by  electing  Hon.  Charles  F.  Crisp,  of  Georgia,  Speaker, 
and  Hon.  William  M.  Springer,  of  Illinois,  was 
appointed  by  him  Chairman  of  the  Ways  and  Means 
Committee.  The  Senate  remained  Republican  by  forty- 
seven  of  the  eighty-eight  members.  Hon.  Charles  F. 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  151 

Manderson,  of  Nebraska,  was  elected  President  pro 
tern.,  and  Mr.  Morrill  continued  as  Chairman  of  the 
Finance  Committee. 

In  his  third  annual  message  at  the  beginning  of  the 
first  session  of  the  Fifty-second  Congress,  December  9, 
1891,  President  Harrison  wrote  at  some  length  of  the 
operations  of  the  new  tariff  law.  He  was  gratified  at 
the  prospect,  and  observed,  with  force  and  clearness: 

"  Rarely,  if  ever  before  in  the  history  of  the  country, 
has  there  been  a  time  when  the  proceeds  of  one  day's 
labor  or  the  product  of  one  farmed  acre  would  purchase 
so  large  an  amount  of  those  things  that  enter  into  the 
living  of  the  masses  of  the  people.  I  believe  that  a  full 
test  will  develop  the  fact  that  the  tariff  act  of  the  Fifty- 
first  Congress  is  very  favorable  in  its  average  effect 
upon  the  prices  of  articles  entering  into  common  use. 
During  the  twelve  months  from  October  1,  1890,  to 
September  30,  1891,  the  total  value  of  our  foreign 
commerce  (imports  and  exports  combined)  was  $1,747,- 
806,406,  which  was  the  largest  of  any  year  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  United  States.  The  largest  in  any  previous 
year  was  in  1890,  when  our  commerce  amounted  to 
$1,647,139,093,  and  the  last  year  exceeds  this  enormous 
aggregate  by  over  one  hundred  millions.  It  is  interest- 
ing, and  to  some  will  be  surprising,  to  know  that  during 
the  year  ending  September  30,  1891,  our  imports  of 
merchandise  amounted  to  $824,715,270,  which  was  an 
increase  of  more  than  eleven  million  dollars  over  the 
value  of  the  imports  of  the  corresponding  months  of  the 
preceding  year,  when  the  imports  of  merchandise  were 
unusually  large  in  anticipation  of  the  tariff  legislation 
then  pending.  The  average  annual  value  of  the  imports 


152  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

of  merchandise  for  the  ten  years  from  1881  to  1890  was 
$692,186,522,  and  during  the  year  ending  September  30, 
1891,  this  annual  average  was  exceeded  by  $132,528,469. 
The  value  of  free  imports  during  the  twelve  months 
ending  September  30,  1891,  was  $118,092,387  more 
than  the  value  of  free  imports  during  the  corresponding 
twelve  months  of  the  preceding  year,  and  there  was 
during  the  same  period  a  decrease  of  $106,846,508  in 
the  value  of  imports  of  dutiable  merchandise.  The  per- 
centage of  merchandise  admitted  free  of  duty  during  the 
year  to  which  I  have  referred,  the  first  under  the  new 
tariff,  was  48.18,  while  during  the  preceding  twelve 
months,  under  the  old  tariff,  the  percentage  was  34.27, 
an  increase  of  13.91  per  cent.  If  we  take  the  six  months 
ending  September  30th  last,  which  covers  the  time 
during  which  sugars  have  been  admitted  free  of  duty, 
the  per  cent,  of  value  of  merchandise  imported  free  of 
duty  is  found  to  be  55.37,  which  is  a  larger  percentage 
of  free  imports  than  during  any  prior  fiscal  year  in  the 
history  of  the  Government.  If  we  turn  to  exports  of 
merchandise,  the  statistics  are  full  of  gratification.  The 
value  of  such  exports  of  merchandise  for  the  twelve 
months  ending  September  30,  1891,  was  $923,031,136, 
while  for  the  corresponding  previous  twelve  months  it 
was  $860,177,115,  an  increase  of  $62,914,021,  which  is 
nearly  three  times  the  average  annual  increase  of  ex- 
ports of  merchandise  for  the  preceding  twenty  years; 
this  exceeds  in  amount  and  value  the  exports  of  mer- 
chandise during  any  year  in  the  history  of  the  Govern- 
ment. The  increase  in  the  value  of  exports  of  agri- 
cultural products  during  the  year  referred  to  over  the 
corresponding  twelve  months  of  the  prior  year  was 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  153 

$45,846,197,  while  the  increase  in  the  value  of  exports 
of  manufactured  products  was  $16,888,240.  There  is 
certainly  nothing  in  the  condition  of  trade,  foreign  or 
domestic,  there  is  certainly  nothing  in  the  condition  of 
our  people  of  any  class,  to  suggest  that  the  existing 
tariff  and  revenue  legislation  bears  oppressively  upon 
the  people  or  retards  the  commercial  development  of 
the  Nation.  It  may  be  argued  that  our  condition  Would 
be  better  if  tariff  legislation  were  on  a  free-trade  basis ; 
but  it  can  not  be  denied  that  all  the  conditions  of 
prosperity  and  of  general  contentment  are  present  in  a 
larger  degree  than  ever  before  in  our  history,  and  that, 
too,  just  when  it  was  prophesied  they  would  be  in  the 
worst  state.  Agitation  for  radical  changes  in  tariff  and 
financial  legislation  can  not  help,  but  may  seriously 
impede,  business,  to  the  prosperity  of  which  some  degree 
of  stability  in  legislation  is  essential.  I  think  there  are 
conclusive  evidences  that  the  new  tariff  has  created 
several  great  industries  which  will,  within  a  few  years, 
give  employment  to  several  hundred  thousand  American 
working  men  and  women.  In  view  of  the  somewhat 
overcrowded  condition  of  the  labor  market  of  the 
United  States  every  patriotic  citizen  should  rejoice  at 
such  a  result.  The  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  shows  that  the  total  receipts  of  the  Govern- 
ment, from  all  sources,  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30, 
1891,  were  $458,544,233.03,  while  the  expenditures  for 
the  same  period  were  $421  304,470.46,  leaving  a  surplus 
of  $37,239,762.57." 

During  the  recess  of  Congress  treaties  of  reciprocity 
had  been  entered  into  between  the  United  States  and 
the  following  countries,  and  were  duly  proclaimed  by 


154  THE  TAKIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

President  Harrison  on  the  dates  given:  Brazil,  Feb- 
ruary 5, 1891 ;  Spain,  July  31, 1891 ;  and  San  Domingo, 
August  7,  1891.  Other  treaties  are  as  follows :  Sal- 
vador, December  31,  1891 ;  Germany,  February  1, 1892, 
Great  Britain,  February  1,  1892,  applicable  to  British 
Guiana,  Trinidad  and  Tobago,  Barbados,  the  Leeward 
Islands,  and  the  Windward  Islands,  except  Grenada  ; 
Nicaragua,  March  12,  1892  ;  Honduras,  April  30,  1892; 
Guatemala,  May  18,  1892  ;  Austria-Hungary,  May  26, 
1892.  A  proclamation  was  also  issued  by  President 
Harrison,  on  March  15,  1892,  suspending  the  free  ad- 
mission in  the  United  States  of  the  sugar,  molasses, 
coffee  and  tea  produced  in  Hayti.  The  articles  which 
were  benefited  by  these  treaties  were  about  292  in  num- 
ber and  consisted  in  part  of  agricultural  implements,  live 
stock,  clocks  and  watches,  cotton  yarns  and  goods,  meat 
extracts,  condensed  milk,  iron  and  steel  manufactures, 
tools,  leather,  resin,  tar,  paraffine,  cheese,  pianos,  car- 
riages, flour,  oils,  barks  and  extracts,  and  brass  and  its 
manufactures. 

On  February  9,  1892,  the  House  passed  a  bill  to 
amend  the  internal  revenue  laws,  as  to  violations, 
penalties,  and  other  particulars.  Mr.  Bynum,  of 
Indiana,  moved  the  previous  question  and  the  bill  was 
passed — yeas  173,  nays  39.  In  the  Senate  it  was  re- 
ferred to  the  Committee  on  Judiciary. 

On  April  4th,  Hon.  Thomas  J.  Geary,  of  Califor- 
nia, secured  the  consideration  in  the  House  of  his  bill 
to  absolutely  prohibit  the  coming  of  Chinese  into  the 
United  States.  The  rules  were  suspended  and  it  was 
passed — yeas  179,  nays  43.  In  the  Senate,  a  substitute 
was  reported  by  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations, 


OF  HENBY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  155 

on  April  25th,  and  accepted  by  a  vote  of  43  to  14. 
The  bill  was  then  passed  but  the  House  refused  to  con- 
cur, and  a  Committee  of  Conference  was  appointed  con- 
sisting of  Senators  Dolph,  Sherman,  and  Morgan,  and 
Kepresentatives  Geary,  Chipman,  and  Hitt.  They  re- 
ported an  amended  bill  (Messrs.  Sherman  and  Hitt  not 
signing  the  report)  which  was  accepted  and  passed  by 
the  Senate  on  May  3rd — yeas  30,  nays  15,  and  by  the 
House  on  May  4th — yeas  186,  nays  27 — and  approved 
by  the  President  on  May  5,  1892. 

The  House  at  this  session  passed  a  series  of*tariff  bills, 
which  were  derisively  styled  by  the  press  as  "pop  gun 
bills,"  probably  because  it  was  well  known  in  advance 
that  they  would  avail  nothing,  neither  pass  the  Senate 
nor  be  approved  by  the  President.  On  April  4th  a  bill 
was  reported  "  to  place  wool  on  the  free  list  and  reduce 
the  duties  on  woolen  goods."  It  passed  the  House,  on 
April  7th,  by  a  vote  of  194  to  60 — two  Democrats  vot- 
ing with  the  Republicans  in  the  negative.  The  Senate 
referred  this  bill  to  the  Committee  on  Finance. 

On  April  9th,  a  bill  "  to  admit  free  of  duty  bagging 
for  cotton,  machinery  for  manufacturing  bagging,  cotton- 
ties,  and  cotton-gins,"  was  passed  by  the  House  by  the 
vote — yeas  (Democrats)  167  ;  nays  (Republicans)  46. 
In  the  Senate  it  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Finance. 

On  May  2nd,  Hon.  William  J.  Bryan,  of  Nebraska, 
moved  to  suspend  the  rules  and  pass  his  bill  to  place 
binding  twine  on  the  free  list.  This  was  agreed  to — 
yeas  183,  nays  47,  two  Republicans  voting  in  the  affir- 
mative and  three  Democrats  in  the  negative.  The  Senate 
referred  it  to  the  Committee  on  Finance. 


156  THE  TAKIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

Hon.  Samuel  Fowler,  of  New  Jersey,  on  May  2nd, 
moved  to  suspend  the  rules  of  the  House  and  pass  his 
bill  to  encourage  American  shipping — that  is,  grant 
registers  as  vessels  of  the  United  States  to  the  steam- 
ships "  City  of  New  York,"  "  City  of  Paris,"  and  such 
other  foreign-built  steamships  as  were  then  or  might 
thereafter  be  engaged  in  the  freight  and  passenger 
business  in  any  established  line  from  a  port  in  the 
United  States.  The  motion  was  agreed  to  and  the  bill 
passed  without  division.  In  the  Senate  the  bill  was 
favorably  reported  and  passed  on  May  9th — yeas  forty- 
one,  Republicans  twenty-four,  Democrats  seventeen; 
nays  ten,  Republicans  four,  Democrats  six.  It  was  ap- 
proved by  President  Harrison,  May  11,  1892.  A  similar 
bill  by  Mr.  Fowler  to  grant  a  register  to  the  steamship 
"China"  was  defeated  by  the  House  on  July  20th. 
It  was  laid  on  the  table,  by  a  vote  of  107  to  84. 

On  July  1st,  the  House  Committee  on  Labor 
reported  a  bill  "  to  enforce  the  eight-hour  law,"  which 
was  passed  under  suspension — yeas  166,  nays,  all 
Democrats,  31.  In  the  Senate,  it  was  passed  on  July 
28th,  without  division,  and  was  approved  by  the 
President  on  July  30th. 

On  July  8th,  Hon.  Benjamin  F.  Shively,  of  Indiana, 
moved  to  suspend  the  rules  and  pass  a  bill  to  reduce 
the  duty  on  tin  and  tin-plate  to  one  cent  per  pound. 
This  was  agreed  to  and  the  bill  passed — yeas  207,  nays 
61,  a  strict  party  vote.  No  action  was  taken  on  the  bill 
in  the  Senate. 

Hon.  Justin  R.  Whiting,  of  Michigan,  on  July  8th, 
moved  to  suspend  the  rules  and  pass  his  bill  reducing 
the  duty  on  lead  ores  to  one  and  a  half  or  one  and  a 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  157 

third  cents  per  pound,  which  was  agreed  to — yeas  196, 
nays  63,  including  three  Democrats.  The  Senate  took 
no  action  upon  it. 

On  the  same  day  the  same  gentleman  secured  a 
suspension  and  the  passage  of  a  bill  to  reduce  the  duty 
on  the  wearing  apparel  of  tourists  from  the  United 
States  to  Europe ;  also  on  other  personal  effects.  The 
Senate,  however,  did  not  consider  it. 

On  July  28th,  pending  consideration  of  the  Senate 
amendments  to  the  Sundry  Civil  Bill,  the  House 
adopted  an  amendment  against  the  employment  of 
Pinkerton  detectives  in  any  Government  service  or  by 
any  officer  of  the  District  of  Columbia — yeas  159,  nays 
34.  In  the  Senate,  this  and  other  House  amendments 
were  not  concurred  in,  and  the  matter  was  referred  to  a 
Committee  of  Conference — Senators  Allison,  Cullom, 
and  Gorman,  and  Representatives  Holman,  Sayres,  and 
Bingham.  On  April  5th  this  Committee  reported  by 
favor  of  retaining  the  clause,  and  it  was  agreed  to  by 
the  House — yeas  169,  nays  4 — and  by  the  Senate  with- 
out a  division. 

The  tenth  Republican  National  Convention  as- 
sembled in  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  June  7,  1892.  The 
platform  was  unanimously  adopted  on  June  10th,  and 
in  its  treatment  of  the  tariff  it  declared : 

"We  reaffirm  the  American  doctrine  of  protection. 
We  call  attention  to  its  growth  abroad.  We  maintain 
that  the  prosperous  condition  of  our  country  is  largely 
due  to  the  wise  revenue  legislation  of  the  Republican 
Congress.  We  believe  that  all  articles  which  can  not 
be  produced  in  the  United  States,  except  luxuries, 
should  be  admitted  free  of  duty,  and  that  on  all  im- 


158  THE  TAKIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

ports  coming  into  competition  with  the  products  of 
American  labor  there  should  be  levied  duties  equal  to 
the  difference  between  wages  abroad  and  at  home. 
We  assert  that  the  prices  of  manufactured  articles  of 
general  consumption  have  been  reduced  under  the 
operations  of  the  tariff  act  of  1890.  We  denounce  the 
efforts  of  the  Democratic  majority  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  to  destroy  our  tariff  laws  by  piecemeal, 
as  manifested  by  their  attacks  upon  wool,  lead  and  lead 
ores,  the  chief  products  of  a  number  of  States,  and  we 
ask  the  people  for  their  judgment  thereon.  We  point 
to  the  success  of  the  Republican  policy  of  reciprocity, 
under  which  our  export  trade  has  vastly  increased,  and 
new  and  enlarged  markets  have  been  opened  for  the 
products  of  our  farms  and  workshops.  We  remind  the 
people  of  the  bitter  opposition  of  the  Democratic  party 
to  this  practical  business  measure,  and  claim  that,  ex- 
ecuted by  a  Republican  Administration,  our  present 
laws  will  eventually  give  us  control  of  the  trade  of  the 
world.  We  reaffirm  our  opposition,  declared  in  the 
Republican  platform  of  1888,  to  all  combinations  of 
capital  organized  in  trusts,  or  otherwise,  to  control 
arbitrarily  the  condition  of  trade  among  our  citizens. 
We  heartily  indorse  the  action  already  taken  upon  this 
subject,  and  ask  for  such  further  legislation  as  may  be 
required  to  remedy  any  defects  in  existing  laws  and  to 
render  their  enforcement  more  complete  and  effective." 

Mr.  Harrison  was  renominated  on  the  first  ballot  for 
President,  and  Hon.  Whitelaw  Reid,  of  'New  York,  on 
the  first  ballot  for  Vice-President. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention  met  in  Chicago 
on  June  21st.  The  platform  as  reported  the  next  day 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  159 

contained  the  following  declaration  on  the  subject  of 
"  revenue  tariffs,"  as  its  second  plank,  namely : 

"We  reiterate  the  oft-repeated  doctrines  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic party  that  the  necessities  of  the  oroyernment  is 
the  only  justification  for  taxation,  and  whenever  a  tax 
is  unnecessary  it  is  unjustifiable ;  that  when  custom- 
house taxation  is  levied  upon  articles  of  any  kind  pro- 
duced in  this  country,  the  difference  between  the  cost 
of  labor  here  and  labor  abroad,  when  such  a  difference 
exists,  fully  measures  any  possible  benefits  to  labor,  and 
the  enormous  additional  impositions  of  the  existing  tariff 
fall  with  crushing  force  upon  our  farmers  and  working- 
men,  and  for  the  mere  advantage  of  the  few  whom  it 
enriches,  exact  from  labor  a  grossly  unjust  share  of  the 
expenses  of  the  Government,  and  we  demand  such  a 
revision  of  the  tariff  laws  as  will  remove  their  iniquitous 
inequalities,  lighten  their  oppressions,  and  put  them  on 
a  constitutional  and  equitable  basis.  But  in  making 
reduction  in  taxes  it  is  not  proposed  to  injure  any  domes- 
tic industries,  but  rather  to  promote  their  healthy 
growth.  From  the  foundation  of  this  Government  taxes 
collected  at  the  custom-house  have  been  the  chief  source 
of  Federal  revenue.  Such  they  must  continue  to  be. 
Moreover,  many  industries  have  come  to  rely  upon  legis- 
lation for  successful  continuance,  so  that  any  change  of 
law  must  be  at  every  step  regardful  of  the  labor  and 
capital  thus  involved.  The  process  of  reform  must  be 
subject  in  its  execution  to  the  plain  dictates  of  justice." 

Although  this  breathed  the  spirit  of  the  Democratic 
tariff  resolutions  of  1884,  on  which  Mr.  Cleveland  had 
been  elected  to  the  Presidency,  it  encountered  most 
determined  opposition.  Hon.  Lawrence  T.  Neal,  of 


160  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

Ohio,  on  behalf  of  himself  and  other  members  of  the 
Committee  on  Resolutions,  moved  that  this  paragraph 
be  stricken  from  the  platform,  and  the  following  sub- 
stitute be  adopted : 

"  We  denounce  Republican  protection  as  a  fraud ;  a 
robbery  of  the  great  majority  of  the  American  people 
for  the  benefit  of  the  few.  We  declare  it  to  be  a  fun- 
damental principle  of  the  Democratic  party  that  the 
Federal  Government  has  no  constitutional  power  to  im- 
pose and  collect  tariff  duties,  except  for  the  purpose 
of  revenue  only,  and  we  demand  that  the  collection  of 
such  taxes  shall  be  limited  to  the  necessities  of  the  Gov- 
ernment when  honestly  and  economically  administered. 
We  denounce  the  McKinley  tariff  law,  enacted  by  the 
Fifty-first  Congress,  as  the  culminating  atrocity  of  class 
legislation ;  we  indorse  the  efforts  made  by  the  Dem- 
ocrats of  the  present  Congress  to  modify  its  most  op- 
pressive feature  in  the  direction  of  free  raw  materials 
and  cheaper  manufactured  goods  that  enter  into  general 
consumption,  and  we  promise  its  repeal  as  one  of  the 
beneficent  results  that  will  follow  the  action  of  the 
people  in  entrusting  power  to  the  Democratic  party. 
Since  the  McKinley  tariff  went  into  operation  there  have 
been  ten  reductions  of  the  wages  of  the  laboring  man  to 
one  increase.  We  deny  that  there  has  been  any  increase 
of  prosperity  to  the  country  since  the  tariff  went  into 
operation,  and  we  point  to  the  dullness  and  distress,  the 
wage  reductions  and  strikes  in  the  iron  trade,  as  the  best 
possible  evidence  that  no  such  prosperity  has  resulted 
from  the  McKinley  act.  We  call  the  attention  of 
thoughtful  Americans  to  the  fact  that  after  thirty  years 
of  restrictive  taxes  against  the  importation  of  foreign 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  161 

wealth,  in  exchange  for  our  agricultural  surplus,  the 
homes  and  farms  of  the  country  have  become  burdened 
with  a  real  estate  mortgage  debt  of  over  $2,500,000,000, 
exclusive  of  all  other  forms  of  indebtedness ;  that  in  one 
of  the  chief  agricultural  States  of  the  West  there  ap- 
pears a  real  estate  mortgage  debt  averaging  $165  per 
capita  of  the  total  population,  and  that  similar  condi- 
tions and  tendencies  are  shown  to  exist  in  other  agri- 
cultural exporting  States.  We  denounce  a  policy  which 
fosters  no  industry  so  much  as  it  does  that  of  the  sheriff." 

After  a  brief  but  spirited  debate  the  motion  by  Mr. 
Neal  was  agreed  to — yeas  564,  nays  342.  Eighteen 
States  (Colorado,  Idaho,  Illinois,  Iowa,  Kentucky,  Mich- 
igan, Missouri,  Montana,  Nebraska,  Nevada,  New  York, 
North  Dakota,  Ohio,  South  Carolina,  Texas,  Washing- 
ton, West  Virginia,  and  Wyoming)  voted  unanimously 
in  favor  of  the  substitute,  and  thirteen  (Arkansas,  Cali- 
fornia, Connecticut,  Delaware,  Kansas,  Maine,  Minnesota, 
New  Hampshire,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Rhode 
Island,  Vermont,  and  Wisconsin)  solidly  against  it. 
Fifteen  delegates  in  Illinois  opposing  the  substitute, 
five  in  Minnesota  favoring  it,  and  fifteen  in  Pennsylvania 
opposing  it,  were  deprived  of  the  expression  of  their 
individual  views,  since,  under  the  unit  rule,  their  votes 
were  counted  with  the  majority  of  their  respective  del- 
egations. The  following  additional  planks  on  "reci- 
procity "  and  "  trusts  "  were  agreed  to,  and  the  platform 
as  amended  was  unanimously  adopted  : 

"  Trade  interchange  on  the  basis  of  reciprocal  advant- 
ages to  the  countries  participating  is  a  time-honored 
doctrine  of  the  Democratic  faith,  but  we  denounce  the 
sham  reciprocity  which  juggles  with  the  people's  desire 


162  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

for  enlarged  foreign  markets  and  freer  exchanges  by 
pretending  to  establish  closer  trade  relations  for  a 
country  whose  articles  of  export  are  almost  exclusively 
agricultural  products  with  other  countries  that  are  also 
agricultural,  while  erecting  a  custom-house  barrier  of 
prohibitive  tariff  taxes  against  the  rich  and  the  coun- 
tries of  the  world  that  stand  ready  to  to  take  our  entire 
surplus  of  products  and  to  exchange  therefor  commodi- 
ties which  are  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life  among 
our  people. 

"  We  recognize  in  the  trusts  and  combinations  which 
are  designed  to  enable  capital  to  secure  more  than  its 
just  share  of  the  joint  product  of  capital  and  labor,  a 
natural  consequence  of  the  prohibitive  taxes  which 
prevent  the  free  competition  which  is  the  life  of  honest 
trade;  but  we  believe  their  worst  evils  can  be  abated 
by  law,  and  we  demand  the  rigid  enforcement  of  the 
laws  made  to  prevent  and  control  them,  together  with 
such  further  legislation  in  restraint  of  their  abuses  as 
experience  may  show  to  be  necessary." 

The  Convention  completed  its  labors  by  nominating 
Grover  Cleveland,  of  New  York,  for  President,  for  a 
third  time  in  succession,  despite  the  united  opposition  of 
the  delegation  from  his  own  State,  by  617  votes  out  of 
a  total  of  909.  A  ballot  was  taken  for  Vice-President 
resulting :  Adlai  E.  Stevenson,  of  Illinois,  402  votes, 
Isaac  P.  Gray,  of  Indiana,  343,  and  164  for  some  five  or 
six  other  favorites — and  upon  its  conclusion  Mr.  Ste- 
venson was  nominated  by  acclamation. 

President  Harrison  devoted  about  half  of  his  masterly 
letter  of  acceptance — dated  at  Washington,  September 
3rd — to  an  able  and  comprehensive  discussion  of  the 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  163 

tariff  law  of  1890.  Speaking  of  the  substitute  of  the 
minority  of  the  Committee  on  Kesolutions  adopted  by 
the  Democracy  at  Chicago,  he  said  : 

"  The  substitute  declares  that  protective  duties  are  un- 
constitutional— high  protection,  low  protection — all 
unconstitutional.  A  Democratic  Congress  holding  this 
view  can  not  enact,  nor  a  Democratic  President  ap- 
prove, any  tariff  schedule  the  purpose  or  effect  of  which 
is  to  limit  importations,  or  to  give  any  advantage  to  an 
American  workman  or  producer.  A  bounty  might,  I 
judge,  be  given  to  the  importer  under  this  view  of  the 
constitution,  in  order  to  increase  importations,  and  so 
revenue  for  " revenue  only"  is  the  limitation.  Reci- 
procity, of  course,  falls  under  this  denunciation,  for  its 
object  and  effect  are  not  revenue  but  the  promotion  of 
commercial  exchanges,  the  profits  of  which  go  wholly  to 
our  producers.  This  destructive  un-American  doctrine 
was  not  held  or  taught  by  the  historic  Democratic 
statesmen,  whose  fame  as  patriots  has  reached  this  gen- 
eration— certainly  not  by  Jefferson  or  Jackson.  This 
mad  crusade  against  American  shops,  the  bitter  epithets 
applied  to  American  manufacturers,  the  persistent  dis- 
belief of  every  report  of  the  opening  of  a  tin-plate  mill, 
or  of  an  increase  in  our  foreign  trade  by  reciprocity,  are 
as  surprising  as  they  are  discreditable.  There  is  not  a 
thoughtful  business  man  in  the  country  who  does  not 
know  that  the  enactment  into  law  of  the  declaration  of 
the  Chicago  convention  upon  the  subject  of  the  tariff 
would  at  once  plunge  the  country  into  a  business  con- 
vulsion such  as  it  has  never  seen ;  and  there  is  not  a 
thoughtful  workingman  who  does  not  know  that  it 
would  at  once  enormously  affect  the  amount  of  work  to 


164  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

be  done  in  this  country,  by  the  increase  of  importations 
that  would  follow,  and  necessitate  a  reduction  of  his 
wages  to  the  European  standard.  If  any  one  suggests 
that  this  radical  policy  will  not  be  executed  if  the 
Democratic  party  attains  power,  what  shall  be  thought 
of  a  party  that  is  capable  of  thus  trifling  with  great  in- 
terests ?  The  threat  of  such  legislation  would  be  only 
less  hurtful  than  the  fact.  A  distinguished  Democrat 
rightly  described  this  movement  as  a  challenge  to  the 
protected  industries  to  a  fight  of  extermination,  and  an- 
other such  rightly  expressed  the  logic  of  the  situation 
when  he  interpreted  the  Chicago  platform  to  be  an  invi- 
tation to  all  Democrats  holding  then  the  most  moderate 
protection  views  to  go  into  the  Republican  party. 

"And  now  a  few  words  in  regard  to  the  existing 
tariff  law.  We  are  fortunately  able  to  judge  of  its 
influence  upon  production  and  prices  by  the  market  re- 
ports. The  day  of  the  prophet  of  calamity  has  been 
succeeded  by  that  of  the  trade  reporter.  An  examina- 
tion into  the  effects  of  the  law  upon  the  prices  of  pro- 
tected products,  and  of  the  cost  of  such  articles  as  enter 
into  the  living  of  people  of  small  means,  has  been  made 
by  a  Senate  Committee,  composed  of  leading  Senators 
of  both  parties,  with  the  aid  of  the  best  statisticians,  and 
the  report,  signed  by  all  the  members  of  the  Committee, 
has  been  given  to  the  public.  No  such  wide  and  care- 
ful inquiry  has  ever  before  been  made.  These  facts 
appear  from  the  report : 

"  FIRST. — The  cost  of  articles  entering  into  the  use  of 
those  earning  less  than  $1,000  per  annum  has  decreased, 
up  to  May,  1892,  3.4  per  cent.,  while  in  farm  products 
there  has  been  an  increase  in  prices,  owing,  in  part,  to 


OF  HENEY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  165 

an  increased  foreign  demand  and  opening  of  new  mar- 
kets. In  England,  during  the  same  period,  the  cost  of 
living  increased  1.9  per  cent.  Tested  by  their  power  to 
purchase  articles  of  necessity,  the  earnings  of  our  work- 
ing people  have  never  been  as  great  as  they  are  now. 

"  SECOND. — There  has  been  an  average  advance  in  the 
rates  of  wages  of  .75  of  1  per  cent. 

"  THIRD.  —There  has  been  an  advance  in  the  price  of 
all  farm  products  of  18.67  per  cent.,  and  of  all  cereals 
33.59  per  cent. 

"The  act  of  1890  gives  to  the  miners  protection 
against  foreign  silver-bearing  lead  ores,  the  free  intro- 
duction of  which  threatened  the  great  mining  industries 
of  the  Rocky  Mountain  States,  and  to  the  wool-growers 
protection  for  their  fleeces  and  flocks,  which  has  saved 
them  from  a  further  and  disastrous  decline.  The  House 
of  Representatives,  at  its  last  session,  passed  bills  plac- 
ing these  ores  and  wool  upon  the  free  list.  The  people 
of  the  West  well  know  how  destructive  to  their  pros- 
perity these  measures  will  be.  The  tariff  law  has  given 
employment  to  many  thousands  of  American  men  and 
women,  and  will  each  year  give  employment  to  increas- 
ing thousands.  Its  repeal  would  throw  thousands  out 
of  employment,  and  give  work  to  others  only  at  reduced 
wages.  The  appeals  of  the  freetraders  to  the  working- 
man  are  largely  addressed  to  his  prejudices  or  to  his 
passions,  and  not  infrequently  are  pronouncedly  com- 
munistic. The  new  Democratic  leadership  rages  at  the 
employer,  and  seeks  to  communicate  this  rage  to  the 
employe.  I  regret  that  all  employers  of  labor  are  not 
just  and  considerate,  and  that  capital  sometimes  takes 
too  large  a  share  of  the  profits,  but  I  do  not  see  that 


166  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

these  evils  will  be  ameliorated  by  a  tariff  policy 
the  first  necessary  effect  of  which  is  a  severe  wage 
cut,  and  the  second  a  large  diminution  of  the  aggre- 
gate amount  of  work  to  be  done  in  this  country. 
If  the  injustice  of  the  employer  tempts  the  work- 
man to  strike  back,  he  should  be  very  sure  that 
his  blow  does  not  fall  upon  his  own  head  or  upon 
his  wife  and  children.  The  workmen  in  our  great 
cities  are,  as  a  body,  remarkably  intelligent,  and 
are  lovers  of  home  and  country.  They  may  be  roused 
by  injustice,  or  what  seems  to  them  to  be  such,  or  be 
led  for  the  moment  by  others  into  acts  of  passion,  but 
they  will  settle  the  tariff  contest  in  the  calm  light  of 
their  November  firesides,  and  with  sole  reference  to  the 
prosperity  of  the  country  of  which  they  are  citizens, 
and  of  the  homes  they  have  founded  for  their  wives 
and  children.  No  intelligent  advocate  of  a  protective 
tariff  claims  that  it  is  able  of  itself  to  maintain  a  uni- 
form rate  of  wages  without  regard  to  fluctuation  in  the 
supply  of,  and  demand  for,  the  products  of  labor.  But 
it  is  confidently  claimed  that  protective  duties  strongly 
tend  to  hold  up  wages,  and  are  the  only  barrier  against 
reduction  to  the  European  scale.  The  Southern  States 
have  had  a  liberal  participation  in  the  benefits  of  the 
tariff  law,  and,  though  their  representatives  have  gen- 
erally opposed  the  protective  policy,  I  rejoice  that  their 
sugar,  rice,  coal,  ores,  iron,  fruits,  cotton  cloths  and 
other  products  have  not  been  left  to  the  fate  which  the 
votes  of  their  representatives  would  have  brought  upon 
them.  In  the  construction  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  in 
the  new  trade  with  South  and  Central  America,  in  the 
establishment  of  American  steamship  lines,  these  States 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  167 

have  also  special  interests,  and  all  these  interests  will 
not  always  consent  to  be  without  representation  at 
Washington. 

"  Shrewdly,  but  nob  quite  fairly,  our  adversaries  speak 
only  of  the  increased  duties  imposed  on  linen,  pearl 
buttons,  and  other  articles  by  the  McKinley  bill,  and 
oinit  altogether  any  reference  to  the  great  and  bene- 
ficial enlargement  of  the  free  list.  During  the  last  fiscal 
year  $456,000,772  worth  of  merchandise,  or  59.36  per 
cent,  of  our  total  imports  came  in  free  (the  largest  per- 
centage in  our  history),  while  in  1889  the  percentage 
of  importations  was  only  34.42  per  cent.  The  placing  of 
sugar  on  the  free  list  has  saved  the  consumer  in  duties  in 
thirteen  months,  after  paying  the  bounties  provided  for, 
$87,000,000.  This  relief  has  been  substantially  felt  in 
every  household,  upon  every  Saturday's  purchase  of  the 
workingman.  One  of  the  favorite  arguments  against  a 
protective  tariff  is  that  it  shuts  us  out  from  a  participa- 
tion in  what  is  called  with  swelling  emphasis  'the 
markets  of  the  world.'  If  this  view  is  not  a  false  one, 
how  doth  it  happen  that  our  commercial  competitors 
are  not  able  to  bear  with  more  serenity  our  supposed 
surrender  to  them  of  the  'markets  of  the  world?' 
And  how  does  it  happen  that  the  partial  loss  of  our 
market  closes  foreign  tin  plate  mills  and  plush  factories 
that  still  have  all  other  markets?  Our  natural  ad- 
vantages, our  protective  tariff,  and  the  reciprocity 
policy,  make  it  possible  for  us  to  have  a  large  partici- 
pation in  the  '  markets  of  the  world,'  without  opening 
our  own  to  a  competition  that  would  destroy  the  com- 
fort and  independence  of  our  people." 

Mr.  Reid  responded  in  a  letter  of  great  strength  «nd 


168  THE  TABIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

t 

force,  dated  at  Ophir  Farm,  N.  Y.,  October  18th.  In 
speaking  of  the  magnificent  results  which  had  accrued 
to  the  American  people  tinder  a  protective  tariff,  he 
observed  : 

"  The  expediency  of  a  protective  tariff  has  been  vin- 
dicated by  the  experience  of  the  past  thirty  years — the 
most  wonderful  period  of  financial  success  over  un- 
heard-of difficulties  in  the  record  of  modern  civilization. 
Under  it,  and  by  its  aid,  the  Republican  management 
of  our  finances  has  resulted  in  the  largest  payment  of  a 
National  debt  in  the  shortest  time  known  to  history, 
and  in  the  simultaneous  development  of  the  industries  of 
the  country  and  the  prosperity  of  the  people  on  a  scale 
without  a  parallel.  Eight  years  ago,  in  a  masterly  pub- 
lic paper,  James  G.  Blaine  called  attention  to  the  revela- 
tions of  the  United  States  census  as  to  the  net  results 
of  the  labor  and  savings  of  the  American  people  under 
the  system  of  a  protective  tariff.  The  '  true  value '  of 
all  the  property  in  the  United  States,  excluding  slaves, 
was  set  down  in  the  census  of  1860  at  fourteen  thou- 
sand millions  of  dollars — that  being  what  there  was  to 
show  for  the  toil  of  250  years.  With  the  success  of 
the  Republican  party  that  year,  the  Republican  pro- 
tective policy  which  has  since  prevailed  was  introduced. 
In  the  census  of  1880,  the  true  value  of  the  property  in 
the  United  States  was  set  down  at  forty-four  thousand 
millions  of  dollars — making  an  increase  in  those  twenty 
years  of  Republican  protection  of  thirty  thousand  mil- 
lions, or  over  double  the  entire  growth  in  the  previous 
250  years.  We  are  now  able  to  carry  the  comparison 
ten  years  further,  through  the  disclosures  of  another 
decennial  census.  It  appears  that  the  property  of  the 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  169 

United  States  lias  been  still  further  increased  in  the  last 
ten  years  by  fourteen  thousand  millions  of  dollars — 
making  a  total  increase  in  the  thirty  years  of  Repub- 
lican rule  and  a  Republican  protective  tariff  of  forty- 
four  thousand  millions  of  dollars,  against  the  fourteen 
thousand  millions  earned  in  the  previous  250  years." 

Mr.  Cleveland,  writing  from  Gray  Gables,  Mass.,  Sep- 
tember 26th,  devoted  a  third  of  his  letter  to  a  disserta- 
tion upon  what  he  termed  "  the  exploded  theories  of 
protection,"  and  the  advantages  of  "  tariff  reform  as  a 
National  necessity."  He  said  : 

"  Tariff  legislation  presents  a  familiar  form  of  Federal 
taxation.  Such  legislation  results  as  surely  in  a  tax 
upon  the  daily  life  of  our  people  as  the  tribute  paid 
directly  into  the  hand  of  the  tax-gatherer.  We  feel  the 
burden  of  these  tariff  taxes  too  palpably  to  be  per- 
suaded by  any  sophistry  that  they  do  not  exist,  or  are 
paid  by  foreigners.  Such  taxes,  representing  a  diminu- 
tion of  the  property  rights  of  the  people,  are  only  justi- 
fiable when  laid  and  collected  for  the  purpose  of  main- 
taining our  Government,  and  furnishing  the  means  for 
the  accomplishment  of  its  legitimate  purposes  and  func- 
tions. This  is  taxation  under  the  operation  of  a  tariff 
for  revenue.  It  accords  with  the  professions  of  Ameri- 
can free  institutions,  and  its  justice  and  honesty  answer 
the  test  supplied  by  a  correct  appreciation  of  the  prin- 
ciples upon  which  these  institutions  rest.  This  theory 
of  tariff  legislation  manifestly  enjoins  strict  economy  in 
public  expenditures  and  their  limitation  to  legitimate 
public  uses,  inasmuch  as  it  exhibits  as  absolute  extor- 
tion any  exaction,  by  way  of  taxation,  from  the  sub- 
stance of  the  people,  beyond  the  necessities  of  a  careful 
and  proper  administration  of  Government. 


170  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

"  Opposed  to  this  theory,  the  dogma  is  now  boldly 
presented  that  tariff  taxation  is  justifiable  for  the  ex- 
press purpose  and  intent  of  thereby  promoting  special 
interests  and  enterprises.  Such  a  proposition  is  so 
clearly  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  our  Constitution,  and  so 
directly  encourages  the  disturbance  by  selfishness  and 
greed  of  patriotic  sentiment,  that  its  statement  would 
rudely  shock  our  people  if  they  had  not  already  been 
insidiously  allured  from  the  safe  landmarks  of  prin- 
ciple. Never  have  honest  desire  for  National  growth, 
patriotic  devotion  to  country,  and  sincere  regard  for 
those  who  toil,  been  so  betrayed  to  the  support  of  a  per- 
nicious doctrine.  In  its  behalf  the  plea  that  our  infant 
industries  should  be  fostered  did  service  until  discred- 
ited by  our  stalwart  growth ;  then  followed  the  exigen- 
cies of  a  terrible  war,  which  made  our  people  heedless 
of  the  opportunities  for  ulterior  schemes  afforded  by 
their  willing  and  patriotic  payment  of  unprecedented 
tribute ;  and  now,  after  a  long  period  of  peace,  when 
our  overburdened  countrymen  ask  for  relief  and  a 
restoration  to  a  fuller  enjoyment  of  their  incomes  and 
earnings,  they  are  met  by  the  claim  that  tariff  taxation 
for  the  sake  of  protection  is  an  American  system,  the 
continuance  of  wliich  is  necessary  in  order  that  high 
wages  may  be  paid  to  our  workingmen  and  a  home 
market  be  provided  for  our  farm  products.  These  pre- 
tenses should  no  longer  deceive.  The  truth  is  that 
such  a  system  is  directly  antagonized  by  every  senti- 
ment of  justness  and  fairness  of  which  Americans  are 
pre-eminently  proud.  It  is  also  true  that  while  our 
workingmen  and  farmers  can,  the  least  of  all  our  peo- 
ple, defend  themselves  against  the  harder  home  life 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  171 

which  such  tariff  taxation  decrees,  the  workingman  suf- 
fering from  the  importation  and  employment  of  pauper 
labor,  instigated  by  his  professed  friends,  and  seeking 
security  for  his  interests  in  organized  co-operation,  still 
waits  for  a  division  of  the  advantages  secured  to  his  em- 
ployer under  cover  of  a  generous  solicitude  for  his 
wages,  while  the  farmer  is  learning  that  the  prices  of 
his  products  are  fixed  in  foreign  markets,  where  he 
suffers  from  a  competition  invited  and  built  up  by  the 
system  he  is  asked  to  support.  The  struggle  for  un- 
earned advantage  at  the  doors  of  the  Government 
tramples  on  the  rights  of  those  who  patiently  rely  upon 
assurances  of  American  equality.  Every  governmental 
concession  to  clamorous  favorites  invites  corruption  in 
political  affairs  by  encouraging  the  expenditure  of 
money  to  debauch  suffrage  in  support  of  a  policy 
directly  favorable  to  private  and  selfish  gain.  This  in 
the  end  must  strangle  patriotism  and  weaken  popular 
confidence  in  the  rectitude  of  republican  institutions. 
Though  the  subject  of  tariff  legislation  involves  a 
question  of  markets,  it  also  involves  a  question  of 
morals.  We  can  not  with  impunity  permit  injustice  to 
taint  the  spirit  of  right  and  equity  which  is  the  life  of 
our  Republic ;  and  we  shall  fail  to  reach  our  National 
destiny  if  greed  and  selfishness  lead  the  way. 

"  Recognizing  these  truths,  the  National  Democracy 
will  seek  to  equalize  to  our  people  the  blessings  due 
them  from  the  Government  they  support,  to  promote 
among  our  countrymen  a  closer  community  of  interests 
cemented  by  patriotism  and  National  pride,  and  to  point 
out  a  fair  field  where  prosperous  and  diversified  Ameri- 
can enterprise  may  grow  and  thrive  in  the  wholesome 


172  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

atmosphere  of  American  industry,  ingenuity,  and  in. 
telligence.  Tariff  reform  is  still  our  purpose.  Though 
we  oppose  the  theory  that  tariff  laws  may  be  passed 
having  for  their  object  the  granting  of  discriminating 
and  unfair  governmental  aid  to  private  ventures,  we 
wage  no  exterminating  war  against  any  American 
interests.  We  believe  a  readjustment  can  be  accom- 
plished, in  accordance  with  the  principles  we  pro- 
fess, without  disaster  or  demolition.  We  believe 
that  the  advantages  of  freer  raw  material  should  be 
accorded  to  our  manufacturers,  and  we  contemplate 
a  fair  and  careful  distribution  of  necessary  tariff 
burdens  rather  than  the  precipitation  of  free  trade. 
We  anticipate  with  calmness  the  misrepresentation 
of  our  motives  and  purposes,  instigated  by  a  sel- 
fishness which  seeks  to  hold  in  unrelenting  grasp  its 
unfair  advantage  under  present  tariff  laws.  We  will 
rely  upon  the  intelligence  of  our  fellow-countrymen  to 
reject  the  charge  that  a  party  comprising  a  majority  of 
our  people  is  planning  the  destruction  or  injury  of 
American  interests;  and  we  know  they  can  not  be 
frightened  by  the  spectre  of  impossible  free  trade." 

Mr.  Stevenson,  writing  from  Bloomington,  Illinois, 
October  29th,  gave  his  "  unqualified  approval "  to  the 
views  of  his  associate  on  the  Democratic  National 
ticket,  and  added : 

"  The  greatest  power  conferred  upon  human  govern- 
ment is  that  of  taxation.  All  the  great  struggles  of  the 
past  for  a  broader  political  liberty  have  looked  towards 
the  limitation  of  this  power  by  right  to  tax — a  right 
which  should  always  be  limited  by  the  necessities  of 
the  Government,  and  the  benefits  of  which  may  be 


OF  HENEY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  173 

shared  by  all.  Whenever  this  power  is  used  to  draw 
tribute  from  the  many  for  the  benefit  of  the  tew,  or 
when  part  of  the  people  are  oppressed  in  order  that  the 
remainder  may  prosper  unduly,  equality  is  lost  sight  of. 
It  is  plain  that  our  present  inequitable  system  of  tariff 
taxation  has  promoted  the  growth  of  such  conditions  in 
our  land,  favored  though  it  has  been  by  an  industrious 
and  enterprising  people,  a  productive  soil,  and  the 
highest  development  of  political  liberty.  If  the  benefi- 
ciaries of  this  system  shall  be  able  to  add  a  new  tenure 
of  power  to  those  they  have  already  enjoyed,  the  de- 
velopment of  these  unfavorable  conditions  must  continue 
until  the  power  to  tax  will  be  lodged  in  those  who  are 
willing  and  able  to  pay  for  the  perpetuation  of  privi- 
leges originally  conferred  by  a  confiding  people  for  the 
preservation  inviolate  of  their  own  Government.  There 
is  no  longer  pretext  or  excuse  for  the  maintenance  of  a 
war  tariff  in  times  of  peace,  and  more  than  a  quarter  of 
a  century  after  armed  conflict  has  ceased.  The  platform 
of  the  National  Democracy  demands  the  reform  of  this 
system  and  the  adoption  in  its  place  of  one  which  will 
insure  equality  to  all  our  people.  I  am  in  full  and 
hearty  accord  with  these  purposes." 

Still  the  serious  discussion  or  sober  consideration  of 
the  issues  raised  by  the  platforms  of  the  two  parties 
was  not  the  determining  cause  of  the  campaign.  For 
great  as  was  the  prosperity  of  the  country  and  excellent 
as  was  the  administration  of  President  Harrison,  other 
and  extraneous  matters  contributed  to,  if  they  did  not 
directly  cause,  the  Republican  defeat.  Cleveland  and 
Stevenson  received  277  electoral  votes,  to  145  for  Har- 
rison and  Reid,  and  22  for  Weaver  and  Field,  the 


174  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

candidates  of  the  People's  party.  The  Government,  for 
the  first  time  in  forty  years,  was  Democratic  in  both 
Executive  and  Legislative  branches.  This  had  been 
generally  expected  so  far  as  the  House  of  Represent- 
atives was  concerned,  of  which  the  Democrats  elected 
216  of  the  356  members.  But  to  the  surprise  of  the 
country,  the  Senate  also  passed  into  the  hands  of  that 
party,  it  having  succeeded  in  electing  forty-four  mem- 
bers, to  thirty-six  Republicans  and  five  Populists. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

President  Harrison  devoted  a  large  part  of  his  fourth 
annual  message  to  Congress,  on  December  6, 1892,  to  an 
able  and  comprehensive  review  of  the  tariff  of  1890. 
His  party  had  been  voted  out  of  power,  but  he  never- 
theless could  truthfully  observe  that  "  t'he  general  con- 
ditions affecting  the  commercial  and  industrial  interests 
of  the  United  States  are  in  the  highest  degree  favorable. 
A  comparison  of  the  existing  conditions  with  those  of 
the  most  favored  period  in  the  history  of  the  country 
will,  I  believe,  show  that  so  high  a  degree  of  prosperity 
and  so  general  a  diffusion  of  the  comforts  of  life  were 
never  before  enjoyed  by  our  people." 

"  The  total  wealth  of  the  country  in  1860,"  he  con- 
tinued, "was  $16,159,616,068.  In  1890  it  amounted 
to  $62,610,000,000,  an  increase  of  287  per  cent.  The 
total  mileage  of  railways  in  the  United  States  in  1860 
was  30,626  ;  in  1890  it  was  167,741,  an  increase  of  448 
per  cent.;  and  it  is  estimated  that  there  will  be  about 
4,000  miles  of  track  added  by  the  close  of  the  year 
1892.  The  official  returns  of  the  Eleventh  Census  and 
those  of  the  Tenth  Census  for  seventy -five  leading  cities 
furnish  the  basis  for  the  following  comparisons :  In 
1880  the  capital  invested  in  manufacturing  was  $1,232,- 


176  THE  TAEIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

839,670.  In  1890  the  capital  invested  in  manufactur- 
ing was  $2,900,735,884.  In  1880  the  number  of  em- 
ployees was  1,301,388.  In  1890  the  number  of  em- 
ployees was  2,251,134.  In  1880  the  wages  earned  were 
$501,965,778.  In  1890  the  wages  earned  were  $1,221,- 
170,454.  In  1880  the  value  of  the  product  was  $2,711,- 
579,899.  In  1890  the  value  of  the  product  was  $4,- 
860,286,837.  I  am  informed  by  the  Superintendent  of 
the  Census  that  the  omission  of  certain  industries  in 
1880,  which  were  included  in  1890,  account  in  part  for 
the  remarkable  increase  thus  shown.  But,  after  mak- 
ing full  allowance  for  differences  of  method  and  deduct- 
ing the  returns  for  all  industries  not  included  in  the 
census  of  1880,  there  remains  in  the  reports  from  these 
seventy-five  cities  an  increase  in  the  capital  employed 
of  $1,522,745,604  ;  in  the  value  of  the  product  of  $2,- 
024,236,166 ;  in  wages  earned  of  $677,943,929,  and  in 
the  number  of  wage  earners  employed  of  856,029.  The 
wage  earnings  not  only  show  an  increased  aggregate, 
but  an  increase  per  capita  from  $386  in  1880  to  $547 
in  1890,  or  41.71  per  cent.  The  new  industrial  plants 
established  since  October  6,  1890,  and  up  to  October 
22,  1892,  as  partially  reported  in  the  American  Econo- 
mist, number  345,  and  the  extension  of  existing  plants, 
108  ;  the  new  capital  invested  amounts  to  $40,449,050, 
and  the  number  of  additional  employees  to  37,285. 

"  The  Textile  World  for  July,  1892,  states  that  dur- 
ing the  first  six  months  of  the  present  calendar  year 
135  new  factories  were  built,  of  which  40  are  cotton 
mills,  48  knitting  mills,  26  woolen  mills,  15  silk  mills, 
4  plush  mills  and  2  linen  mills.  Of  the  40  cotton  mills 
21  have  been  built  in  the  Southern  States.  Mr.  A.  B. 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  177 

Shepperson,  of  the  New  York  Cotton  Exchange,  esti- 
mates the  number  of  working  spindles  in  the  United 
States  on  September  1,  1892,  at  15,200,000,  an  increase 
of  600,000  over  the  year  1891.  The  consumption  of 
cotton  by  American  mills  in  1891  was  2,396,000  bales, 
and  in  1892  2,584,000  bales,  an  increase  of  188,000 
bales.  From  1869  to  1892,  inclusive,  there  has  been  an 
increase  in  the  consumption  of  cotton  in  Europe  of  92 
per  cent.,  while  during  the  same  period  the  increased 
consumption  in  the  United  States  has  been  about  150 
per  cent. 

"The  report  of  Ira  Ayer,  Special  Agent  of  the  Treas- 
ury Department,  shows  that  at  the  date  of  September 
30, 1892,  there  were  thirty-two  companies  manufacturing 
tin  and  terne  plate  in  the  United  States,  and  fourteen 
companies  building  new  works  for  such  manufacture. 
The  estimated  investment  in  buildings  and  plants  at  the 
close  of  the  fiscal  year,  June  30,  1893,  if  existing  condi- 
tions were  to  be  continued,  was  $5,000,000,  and  the 
estimated  rate  of  production  200,000,000  pounds  per 
annum.  The  actual  production  for  the  quarter  ending 
September  30,  1892,  was  10,952,725  pounds. 

"The  report  of  Labor  Commissioner  Peck,  of  New 
York,  shows  that  during  the  year  1891,  in  about  6,000 
manufacturing  establishments  in  that  State  embraced 
within  the  special  inquiry  made  by  him,  and  represent- 
ing 67  different  industries,  there  was  a  net  increase  over 
the  year  1890  of  $31,315,130.68  in  the  value  of  the 
product,  and  of  $6,377,925.09  in  the  amount  of  wages 
paid.  The  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  for  the 
State  of  Massachusetts  shows  that  3,745  industries  in 
that  State  paid  $129,416,248  in  wages  during  the  year 


178  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

1891,  against  $126,030,303  in  1890,  an  increase  of 
$3,335,945,  and  that  there  was  an  increase  of  $9,932,490 
in  the  amount  of  capital  and  of  7,346  in  the  number  of 
persons  employed  in  the  same  period. 

"During  the  last  six  months  of  the  year  1891  and  the 
first  six  months  of  1892  the  total  production  of  pig  iron 
was  9,710,819  tons,  as  against  9,202,703  tons  in  the  year 
1890,  which  was  the  largest  annual  production  ever 
attained.  For  the  same  twelvemonths  of  1891-'92  the 
production  of  Bessemer  ingots  was  3,878,581  tons,  an 
increase  of  189,710  gross  tons  over  the  previously  un- 
precedented yearly  production  of  3,688,871  gross  tons 
in  1890.  The  production  of  Bessemer  steel  rails  for  the 
first  six  months  of  1892  was  772,436  gross  tons,  as 
against  702,060  gross  tons  during  the  last  six  months  of 
the  year  1891. 

"  The  total  value  of  our  foreign  trade  (exports  and 
imports  of  merchandise)  during  the  last  fiscal  year  was 
$1,857,580,610,  an  increase  of  $128,283,604  over  the 
previous  fiscal  year.  The  average  annual  value  of 
our  imports  and  exports  of  merchandise  for  the  ten 
fiscal  years  prior  to  1891  was  $1,457,322,019.  It  will 
be  observed  that  our  foreign  trade  for  1892  ex- 
ceeded this  annual  average  by  $400,358,591,  an  increase 
of  27.47  per  cent.  The  significance  and  value  of  this 
increase  are  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  excess  in  the 
trade  of  1892  over  1891  was  wholly  in  the  value 
of  exports,  for  there  was  a  decrease  in  the  value  of 
imports  of  $17,513,754.  The  value  of  our  exports 
during  the  fiscal  year  1892  reached  the  highest  figure  in 
the  history  of  the  Government,  amounting  to  $1,030,- 
278,148,  exceeding  by  $145,797,338  the  exports  of 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  179 

1891  and    exceeding    the    value  of  the  imports    by 
$202,875,686.      A   comparison  of    the   value   of    our 
exports  for  1892  with  the  annual  average  for  the  ten 
years  prior  to  1891  shows  an  excess  of  $265,142,651  or 
34.65  per   cent.      The  value  of  our   imports  of  mer- 
chandise   for    1892,    which     was    $829,402,462,     also 
exceeded  the  annual  average  value   of  the   ten   years 
prior  to  1891  by  $135,215,940.     During  the  fiscal  year 

1892  the  value  of  imports  free  of  duty  amounted  to 
$457,999,658,   the  largest  aggregate  in  the  history  of 
our  commerce.      The  value  of  the  imports  of  merchan- 
dise entered  free  of  duty  in  1892  was  55.35  per  cent  of 
the  total   value   of  imports,  as   compared  with  43.35 
percent,  in  1891  and  33.66  per  cent,  in  1890.      In  our 
coastwise  trade  a  most  encouraging  development  is  in 
progress,   there    having    been   in  the  last   four  years 
an  increase  of  sixteen  per  cent.      In  internal  commerce 
the  statistics  show  that  no  such  period  of  prosperity  has 
ever  before  existed.     The  freight  carried  in  the  coast- 
wise  trade   of   the  Great  Lakes  in   1890   aggregated 
28,295,959    tons.       On   the  Mississippi,    Missouri  and 
Ohio  Rivers  and  tributaries  in  the  same  year  the  traffic 
aggregated     29,405,046     tons,    and    the    total    vessel 
tonnage  passing  through  the  Detroit  River  during  that 
year  was  21,684,000  tons.       The  vessel  tonnage  entered 
and  cleared  in  the  foreign  trade  of  London  during  1890 
amounted  to  13,480,767  tons,  and  of  Liverpool  10,941,800 
tons,  a  total  for  those  two  great  shipping  ports  of  24,422,- 
568  tons,  only  slightly  in  excess  of  the  vessel  tonnnage 
passing  through  the  Detroit  River.     And  it  should  be 
said  that  the  season  for  the  Detroit  River  was  but  228 
days,  while,  of  course,  in  London  and  Liverpool  the 


180  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

season  was  for  the  entire  year.  The  vessel  tonnage 
passing  through  the  St.  Mary's  Canal  for  the  fiscal  year 
1892  amounted  to  9,828,874  tons,  and  the  freight 
tonnage  of  the  Detroit  River  is  estimated  for  that  year 
at  25,000,000  tons,  against  23,209,619  tons  in  1891. 
The  aggregate  traffic  on  our  railroads  for  the  year 

1891  amounted  to  704,398,609  tons   of  freight,   com- 
pared with  691,344,437   tons  in  1890,  an  increase  of 
13,054,172  tons. 

"  Another  indication  of  the  general  prospority  of  the 
country  is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  number  of  depos- 
itors in  savings  banks  increased  from  693,870  in  1860 
to  4,258,893  in  1890,  an  increase  of  513  per  cent,  and  the 
amount  of  deposits  from  $149,277,504  in  1860  to  $1,524,- 
844,506  in  1890,  an  increase  of  921  per  cent.  In  1891 
the  amount  of  deposits  in  savings  banks  was  $1,623,- 
079,749.  It  is  estimated  that  90  per  cent,  of  these  de- 
posits represent  the  savings  of  wage  earners.  The  bank 
clearances  for  nine  months  ending  September  30,  1891, 
amounted  to  $41,049,390,808.  For  the  same  months  in 

1892  they  amounted  to  $45,189,601,947,  an  excess  for 
the  nine  months  of  $4,140,211,139. 

"  There  has  never  been  a  time  in  our  history  when 
work  was  so  abundant  or  when  wages  were  as  high, 
whether  measured  by  the  currency  in  which  they  were 
paid  or  by  their  power  to  supply  the  necessaries  and 
comforts  of  life.  It  is  true  that  the  market  prices  of 
cotton  and  wheat  have  been  low.  It  is  one  of  the  unfa- 
vorable incidents  of  agriculture  that  the  farmer  can  not 
produce  upon  orders.  He  must  sow  and  reap  in  igno- 
rance of  the  aggregate  production  of  the  year,  and  is 
peculiarly  subject  to  the  depreciation  which  follows 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  181 

over-production.  But,  while  the  fact  I  have  stated  is 
true  as  to  the  crops  mentioned,  the  general  average  of 
prices  has  been  such  as  to  give  agriculture  a  fair  par- 
ticipation in  the  general  prosperity.  The  value  of  our 
total  farm  products  has  increased  from  $1,363,646,866 
in  1860  to  $4,500,000,000  in  1891,  as  estimated  by 
statisticians,  an  increase  of  230  per  cent.  The  number 
of  hogs  January  1, 1891,  was  50,625,106  and  their  value 
$210,193,925  ;  on  January  1,  1892,  the  number  was 
52,398,019  and  the  value  $241,031,415.  On  Jan- 
uary  1,  1891,  the  number  of  cattle  was  36,875,648 
and  the  value  $544,127,908 ;  on  January  1,  1892,  the 
number  was  37,651,239  and  the  value  $570,749,155. 
If  any  are  discontented  with  their  state  here ;  if  any 
believe  that  wages  or  prices,  the  return  for  honest  toil, 
are  inadequate,  they  should  not  fail  to  remember  that 
there  is  no  other  country  in  the  world  where  the  condi- 
tions that  seem  to  them  hard  would  not  be  accepted  as 
highly  prosperous.  The  English  agriculturist  would  be 
glad  to  exchange  the  returns  of  his  labor  for  those  of 
the  American  farmer,  and  the  Manchester  workmen 
their  wages  for  those  of  their  fellows  at  Fall  River.  I 
believe  that  the  protective  system,  which  has  now  for 
something  more  than  thirty  years  continuously  prevailed 
in  our  legislation,  has  been  a  mighty  instrument  for  the 
development  of  our  National  wealth  and  a  most  power- 
ful agency  in  protecting  the  homes  of  our  workingmen 
from  the  invasion  of  want.  I  have  felt  a  most  solicitous 
interest  to  preserve  to  our  working-people  rates  of 
wages  that  would  not  only  give  daily  bread,  but  supply 
a  comfortable  margin  for  those  home  attractions  and 
family  comforts  and  enjoyments  without  which  life  is 


182  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

neither  hopeful  nor  sweet.  They  are  American  citizens 
— a  part  of  the  great  people  for  whom  our  Constitution 
and  Government  were  framed  and  instituted — and  it 
can  not  be  a  perversion  of  that  Constitution  to  so  legis- 
late as  to  preserve  in  their  homes  the  comfort,  inde- 
pendence, loyalty  and  sense  of  interest  in  the  Govern- 
ment which  are  essential  to  good  citizenship  in  peace, 
and  which  will  bring  this  stalwart  throng,  as  in  1861, 
to  the  defense  of  the  flag  when  it  is  assailed.  It  is  not 
my  purpose  to  renew  here  the  argument  in  favor  of  a 
protective  tariff.  The  result  of  the  recent  election  must 
be  accepted  as  having  introduced  a  new  policy.  We 
must  assume  that  the  present  tariff,  constructed  upon 
the  lines  of  protection,  is  to  be  repealed,  and  that  there 
is  to  be  substituted  for  it  a  tariff  law  constructed  solely 
with  reference  to  revenue  ;  that  no  duty  is  to  be  higher 
because  the  increase  will  keep  open  an  American  mill 
or  keep  up  the  wages  of  an  American  workman,  but 
that  in  every  case  such  a  rate  of  duty  is  to  be  imposed 
as  will  bring  to  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  the 
largest  returns  of  revenue.  The  contention  has  not 
been  between  schedules,  but  between  principles,  and  it 
would  be  offensive  to  suggest  that  the  prevailing  party 
will  not  carry  into  legislation  the  principles  advocated 
by  it  and  the  pledges  given  to  the  people.  The  tariff 
bills  passed  by  the  House  of  Representatives  at  the  last 
session  were,  as  I  suppose,  even  in  the  opinion  of  their 
promoters,  inadequate  and  justified  only  by  the  facts 
that  the  Senate  and  the  House  of  Representatives  were 
not  in  accord,  and  that  a  general  revision  could  not, 
therefore,  be  undertaken. 

"I  recommend  that  the  whole  subject  of  tariff  re  vision 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  183 

be  left  to  the  incoming  Congress.  It  is  matter  of  re- 
gret that  this  work  must  be  delayed  for  at  least  three 
months ;  for  the  threat  of  great  tariff  changes  introduces 
so  much  uncertainty  that  an  amount,  not  easily  esti- 
mated, of  business  inaction  and  of  diminished  production 
will  necessarily  result.  It  is  possible  also  that  this  un- 
certainty may  result  in  decreased  revenues  from  customs 
duties,  for  our  merchants  will  make  cautious  orders  for 
foreign  goods  in  view  of  the  prospect  of  tariff  reduction 
and  the  uncertainty  as  to  when  it  will  take  effect.  Those 
who  have  advocated  a  protective  tariff  can  well  afford 
to  have  their  disastrous  forecasts  of  a  change  of  policy 
disappointed.  If  a  system  of  customs  duties  can  be 
framed  that  will  set  the  idle  wheels  and  looms  of  Europe 
in  motion  and  crowd  our  warehouses  with  foreign-made 
goods,  and  at  the  same  time  keep  our  own  mills  busy ; 
that  will  give  us  an  increased  participation  in  the 
'  markets  of  the  world  '  of  greater  value  than  the  home 
market  we  surrender ;  that  will  give  increased  work  to 
foreign  workmen  upon  products  to  be  consumed  by  our 
people  without  diminishing  the  amount  of  work  to  be 
done  here ;  that  will  enable  the  American  manufacturer 
to  pay  to  his  workmen  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  per  cent, 
more  in  wages  than  is  paid  in  the  foreign  mill  and  yet 
to  compete  in  our  market  and  in  foreign  markets  with 
the  foreign  producer ;  that  will  further  reduce  the  cost 
of  articles  of  wear  and  food  without  reducing  the  wages 
of  those  who  produce  them ;  that  can  be  celebrated, 
after  its  effects  can  be  realized,  as  its  expectation  has 
been,  in  European  as  well  as  in  American  cities,  the  authors 
and  promoters  of  it  will  be  entitled  to  the  highest  praise. 
We  have  had  in  our  history  several  experiences  of  the 


184  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

contrasted  effects  of  a  revenue  and  of  a  protective  tariff ; 
but  this  generation  has  not  felt  them,  and  the  experience 
of  one  generation  is  not  highly  instructive  to  the  next. 
The  friends  of  the  protective  system,  with  undiminished 
confidence  in  the  principles  they  have  advocated,  will 
await  the  results  of  the  new  experiment.  The  strained 
and  too  often  disturbed  relations  existing  between  the 
employes  and  the  employers  in  our  great  manufacturing 
establishments  have  not  been  favorable  to  a  calm  con- 
sideration by  the  wage  earner  of  the  effects  upon  wages 
of  the  protective  system.  The  facts  that  his  wages  were 
the  highest  paid  in  like  callings  in  the  world  and  that  a 
maintenance  of  this  rate  of  wages,  in  the  absence  of  protec- 
tive duties  upon  the  product  of  his  labor,  was  impossible, 
were  obscured  by  the  passion  evoked  by  these  contests 
He  may  now  be  able  to  review  the  question  in  the  light 
of  his  personal  experience  under  the  operation  of  a  tariff 
for  revenue  only.  If  that  experience  shall  demonstrate 
that  present  rates  of  wages  are  thereby  maintained  or 
increased,  either  absolutely  or  in  their  purchasing  power, 
and  that  the  aggregate  volume  of  work  to  be  done  in  this 
country  is  increased,  or  even  maintained,  so  that  there 
are  more,  or  as  many  days'  work  in  a  year  at  as  good  or 
better  wages  for  the  American  workman  as  has  been  the 
case  under  the  protective  system,  every  one  will  rejoice. 
A  general  process  of  wage  reduction  can  not  be  con- 
templated by  any  patriotic  citizen  without  the  gravest 
apprehension.  It  may  be,  indeed  I  believe  is,  possible 
for  the  American  manufacturer  to  compete  successfully 
with  his  foreign  rival  in  many  branches  of  production 
without  the  defense  of  protective  duties,  if  the  pay  rolls 
are  equalized ;  but  the  conflict  that  stands  between  the 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  185 

producer  and  that  result  and  the  distress  of  our  working- 
people  when  it  is  attained  are  not  pleasant  to  contem- 
plate. The  Society  of  the  Unemployed,  now  holding 
its  frequent  and  threatening  parades  in  the  streets  of 
foreign  cities,  should  not  be  allowed  to  acquire  an  Am- 
erican domicile. 

"Public  revenues  amounting  to  $1,414,079,292.28  have 
been  collected  and  disbursed  without  loss  from  mis- 
appropriation, without  a  single  defalcation  of  such  im- 
portance as  to  attract  the  public  attention,  and  at  a 
diminished  per  cent,  of  cost  for  collection.  There  have 
been  negotiated  and  concluded,  under  Section  3  of  the 
tariff  law,  commercial  agreements  relating  to  reciprocal 
trade  with  the  following  countries  :  Brazil,  Dominican 
Kepublic,  Spain  for  Cuba  and  Puerto  Rico,  Guatemala, 
Salvador,  the  German  Empire,  Great  Britain  for  certain 
West  Indian  colonies  and  British  Guiana,  Nicaragua,  Hon- 
duras, and  Austria-Hungary.  Of  these,  those  with  Guate- 
mala, Salvador,  the  German  Empire,  Great  Britain, 
Nicaragua,  Honduras,  and  Austria-Hungary  have  been 
concluded  since  my  last  annual  message.  Under  these 
trade  arrangements  a  free  or  favored  admission  has  been 
secured  in  every  case  for  an  important  list  of  American 
products.  Especial  care  has  been  taken  to  secure  mar- 
kets for  farm  products  in  order  to  relieve  that  great 
underlying  industry  of  the  depression  which  the  lack  of 
an  adequate  foreign  market  for  our  surplus  often  brings. 
An  opening  has  also  been  made  for  manufactured  prod- 
ucts that  will  undoubtedly,  if  this  policy  is  maintained, 
greatly  augment  our  export  trade.  The  full  benefits  of 
these  arrangements  can  not  be  realized  instantly.  New 
lines  of  trade  are  to  be  opened.  The  commercial  traveler 


186  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

must  survey  the  field.  The  manufacturer  must  adapt 
his  goods  to  the  new  markets,  and  facilities  for  exchange 
must  be  established.  This  work  has  been  well  begun, 
our  merchants  and  manufacturers  having  entered  the 
new  fields  with  courage  and  enterprise.  In  the  case  of 
food  products,  and  especially  with  Cuba,  the  trade  did 
not  need  to  wait,  and  the  immediate  results  have  been 
most  gratifying.  If  this  policy  and  these  trade  arrange- 
ments can  be  continued  in  force  and  aided  by  the  estab- 
lishment of  American  steamship  lines,  I  do  not  doubt 
that  we  shall,  within  a  short  period,  secure  fully  one- 
third  of  the  total  trade  of  the  countries  of  Central  and 
South  America,  which  now  amounts  to  about  $600,000,- 
000  annually.  In  1885  we  had  only  eight  per  cent  of 
this  trade. 

"  The  following  statistics  show  the  increase  in  our 
trade  with  the  countries  with  which  we  have  reciprocal 
trade  agreements  from  the  date  when  such  agreements 
went  into  effect  up  to  September  30,  1892,  the  increase 
being  in  some  almost  wholly  and  in  others  in  an  impor- 
tant degree  the  result  of  these  agreements.  The  domes- 
tic exports  to  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  have 
increased  in  value  from  $47,673,756  to  $57,993,064,  an 
increase  of  $10,453,313,  or  23.67  per  cent.  The  total 
increase  in  the  value  of  exports  to  all  the  countries  with 
which  we  have  reciprocity  agreements  has  been  $20,772,- 
621.  This  increase  is  chiefly  in  wheat,  flour,  meat  and  dairy 
products,  and  in  manufactures  of  iron  and  steel  and 
lumber.  There  has  been  a  large  increase  in  the  value  of 
imports  from  all  these  countries  since  the  commercial 
agreements  went  into  effect,  amounting  to  $74,294,525, 
but  it  has  been  entirely  in  imports  from  the  American 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  187 

countries,  consisting  mostly  of  sugar,  coffee,  india  rubber 
and  crude  drugs.  The  alarmed  attention  of  our  Euro- 
pean competitors  for  the  South  American  market  has 
been  attracted  to  this  new  American  policy,  and  to  our 
acquisition,  and  their  loss,  of  South  American  trade. 

"  During  the  past  year,  a  suggestion  was  received 
through  the  British  minister  that  the  Canadian  Govern- 
ment would  like  to  confer  as  to  the  possibility  of  enlarg- 
ing, upon  terms  of  mutual  advantage,  the  commercial 
exchanges  of  Canada  and  of  the  United  States,  and  a 
conference  was  held  at  Washington,  with  Mr.  Elaine 
acting  for  this  Government,  and  the  British  minister  at 
this  capital  and  three  members  of  the  Dominion  Cabinet 
acting  as  Commissioners  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain. 
The  conference  developed  the  fact  that  the  Canadian 
government  was  only  prepared  to  offer  to  the  United 
States  in  exchange  for  the  concessions  asked,  the  admis- 
sion of  natural  products.  The  statement  was  frankly 
made  that  favored  rates  could  not  be  given  to  the 
United  States  as  against  the  mother  country.  This  ad- 
mission, which  was  foreseen,  necessarily  terminated  the 
conference  upon  this  question.  The  benefits  of  an  ex- 
change of  natural  products  would  be  almost  wholly 
with  the  people  of  Canada. 

"  The  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  will 
attract  especial  interest  in  view  of  the  many  misleading 
statements  that  have  been  made  as  to  the  state  of  the 
public  revenues.  Three  preliminary  facts  should  not 
only  be  stated,  but  emphasized,  before  looking  into  de- 
tails :  First,  that  the  public  debt  has  been  reduced  since 
March  4,  1889,  $259,074,200,  and  the  annual  interest 
charge  $11,684,496  ;  second,  that  there  have  been  paid 


188  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

out  for  pensions  during  this  administration,  up  to  No- 
vember 1,  1892,  $432,564,178.70,  an  excess  of  $114,- 
466,386.09  over  the  sum  expended  during  the  period 
from  March  1,  1885,  to  March  1,  1889  ;  and  third,  that 
under  the  existing  tariff,  up  to  December  1,  about  $93,- 
000,000  of  revenue,  which  would  have  been  collected 
upon  imported  sugars  if  the  duty  had  been  maintained, 
has  gone  into  the  pockets  of  the  people  and  not  into 
the  public  treasury,  as  before.  If  there  are  any  who 
still  think  that  the  surplus  should  have  been  kept  out 
of  circulation  by  hoarding  it  in  the  Treasury,  or  depos- 
ited in  favored  banks  without  interest  while  the  Gov- 
ernment continued  to  pay  to  these  very  banks  interest  upon 
the  bonds  deposited  as  security  for  the  deposits,  or  who 
think  that  the  extended  pension  legislation  was  a  public 
robbery,  or  that  the  duties  upon  sugar  should  have  been 
maintained,  I  am  content  to  leave  the  argument  where  it 
now  rests,  while  we  wait  to  see  whether  these  criticisms 
will  take  the  form  of  legislation.  The  revenues  for  the 
fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1892,  from  all  sources,  were 
$425,868,260.22,  and  the  expenditures  for  all  purposes 
were  $415,953,806.56,  leaving  a  balance  of  $9,914,- 
453.66.  There  were  paid  during  the  year  upon  the  pub- 
lic debt  $40,570,467.98." 

In  his  inaugural  address  of  March  4,  1893,  President 
Cleveland  did  not  question  the  accuracy  and  force  of 
the  conclusions  of  Mr.  Harrison,  nor  offer  any  except 
the  most  general  criticisms  upon  the  tariff  legislation  of 
the  retiring  Administration.  His  only  allusion  to  the 
subject  was  in  the  following  passage  : 

"  Closely  related  to  the  exaggerated  confidence  in 
our  country's  greatness  which  tends  to  a  disregard  of 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  189 

the  rules  of  National  safety,  another  danger  confronts 
us  not  less  serious.  I  refer  to  the  prevalence  of  a  pop- 
ular disposition  to  expect  from  the  operation  of  the 
Government  especial  and  direct  individual  advantages. 
The  verdict  of  our  voters,  which  condemned  the  in- 
justice of  maintaining  protection  for  protection's  sake, 
enjoins  upon  the  people's  servants  the  duty  of  exposing 
and  destroying  the  brood  of  kindred  evils  which  are 
the  unwholesome  progeny  of  paternalism.  This  is  the 
bane  of  republican  institutions  and  the  constant  peril  of 
our  Government  by  the  people.  It  degrades  to  the 
purposes  of  wily  craft  the  plan  of  rule  our  fathers 
established  and  bequeathed  to  us  as  an  object  of  our 
love  and  veneration.  It  perverts  the  patriotic  senti- 
ment of  our  countrymen,  and  tempts  them  to  pitiful 
calculation  of  the  sordid  gain  to  be  derived  from  their 
Government's  maintenance.  It  undermines  the  self- 
reliance  of  our  people,  and  substitutes  in  its  place  de- 
pendence upon  governmental  favoritism.  It  stiftes  the 
spirit  of  true  Americanism  and  stupefies  every  enno- 
bling trait  of  American  citizenship.  The  lessons  of 
paternalism  ought  to  be  unlearned  and  the  better  lesson 
taught  that,  while  the  people  should  patriotically  and 
cheerfully  support  their  Government,  its  functions  do 
not  include  the  support  of  the  people.  The  acceptance 
of  this  principle  leads  to  a  refusal  of  bounties  and  sub- 
sidies, which  burden  the  labor  and  thrift  of  a  portion 
of  our  citizens,  to  aid  ill-advised  or  languishing  enter- 
prises in  which  they  have  no  concern.  It  leads  also  to 
a  challenge  of  wild  and  reckless  pension  expenditure,  * 
which  overleaps  the  bounds  of  grateful  recognition  of 
patriotic  service  and  prostitutes  to  vicious  uses  the 


190  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

people's  prompt  and  generous  impulses  to  aid  those 
disabled  in  their  country's  defense.  Every  thoughtful 
American  must  realize  the  importance  of  checking  at 
its  beginning  any  tendency  in  public  or  private  station 
to  regard  frugality  and  economy  as  virtues  which  we 
may  outgrow.  The  toleration  of  this  idea  results  in  the 
waste  of  the  people's  money  by  their  chosen  servants, 
and  encourages  prodigality  and  extravagance  in  the 
home  life  of  our  countrymen.  Under  our  scheme  of 
government,  the  waste  of  public  money  is  a  crime 
against  the  citizen ;  and  the  contempt  of  our  people  for 
economy  and  frugality  in  their  personal  affairs  deplor- 
ably saps  the  strength  and  sturdiness  of  our  National 
character.  It  is  a  plain  dictate  of  honesty  and  good 
government  that  public  expenditures  should  be  limited 
by  public  necessity,  and  that  this  should  be  measured 
by  the  rules  of  strict  economy  ;  and  it  is  equally  clear 
that  frugality  among  the  people  is  the  best  guarantee 
of  a  contented  and  strong  support  of  free  institutions." 

Mr.  Cleveland  convened  Congress  to  meet  in  extra- 
ordinary session  on  August  fth.  The  House  organized 
by  re-electing  Hon.  Charles  F.  Crisp,  of  Georgia,  as 
Speaker,  and  Hon.  William  L.  Wilson,  of  West  Vir- 
ginia, became  Chairman  of  the  Ways  and  Means  Com- 
mittee. The  Senate  also  reorganized  its  committees, 
Hon.  Daniel  W.  Voorhees,  of  Indiana,  succeeding  Mr. 
Morrill  as  Chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee.  In 
his  message  of  August  8th,  Mr.  Cleveland  stated  his 
object  in  assembling  Congress  to  be  an  earnest  desire 
for  "  the  prompt  repeal  of  the  provisions "  of  the 
so-called  Sherman  law  of  July  14,  1890,  "authorizing 
the  purchase  of  silver  bullion,  and  that  other  legislative 


OP  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  191 

action  may  put  beyond  all  doubt  or  mistake  the  inten- 
tion and  the  ability  of  the  Government  to  fulfill  its 
pecuniary  obligations  in  money  universally  recognized 
by  all  civilized  countries."  His  only  reference  to  the 
tariff  question,  or  the  serious  distress  that  the  threatened 
repeal  of  the  tariff  law  of  1890  had  visited  upon  our 
manufacturing  interests,  is  found  in  a  brief  passage  im- 
mediately preceding  the  conclusion  of  his  message.  He 
said  : 

"  It  was  my  purpose  to  summon  Congress  in  special 
session  early  in  the  coming  September  that  we  might 
enter  promptly  upon  the  work  of  tariff  reform,  which 
the  true  interests  of  the  country  clearly  demand,  which  so 
large  a  majority  of  the  people,  as  shown  by  their  suffrages, 
desire  and  expect,  and  to  the  accomplishment  of  which 
every  effort  of  the  present  Administration  is  pledged. 
But  while  tariff  reform  has  lost  nothing  of  its  immediate 
and  permanent  importance,  and  must,  in  the  near 
future,  engage  the  attention  of  Congress,  it  has  seemed 
to  me  that  the  financial  condition  of  the  country  should 
be  at  once,  and  above  all  other  subjects,  considered  by 
your  honorable  body." 

Although  from  the  following  passage,  it  appears  that 
Mr.  Cleveland  was  himself  in  doubt  as  to  what  was  the 
real  cause  of  the  trouble,  he  used  words  truly  pro- 
phetic when  he  said :  "  It  may  be  true  that  the  embar- 
rassments from  which  the  business  of  the  country  is 
suffering  arise  as  much  from  evils  apprehended  as  from 
those  actually  existing."  Subsequent  events  have  fully 
corroborated  the  truth  of  this  observation. 

In  their  devotion  to  the  supposed  best  interests  of 
the  country,  the  Republicans  of  both  houses  of  Con- 


192  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

gress  for  the  most  part  joined  in  complying  with  the 
demand  for  the  repeal  of  the  act  of  July  14,  1890,  and 
none  more  zealously  than  its  reputed  author,  Senator 
Sherman,  of  Ohio,  without  the  aid  of  whose  command- 
ing influence  the  silver  purchase  clause  would  probably 
not  have  been,  repealed.  A  bill  by  Mr.  Wilson,  of 
West  Virginia,  for  that  purpose,  passed  the  House  on 
August  28th  by  the  vote — yeas  239,  nays  109.  The 
affirmative  vote  was  cast  by  one  hundred  and  forty-one 
Democrats  and  ninety-eight  Kepublicans ;  the  negative 
by  seventy-four  Democrats,  twenty-four  Republicans, 
and  eleven  Populists,  with  four  Democrats  and  one  Re- 
publican no*  voting. 

The  action  of  Congress  brought  no  perceptible  relief 
to  the  disturbed  business  interests  of  the  country,  and 
the  November  elections  demonstrated  that  "the  large 
majority  of  the  people,"  to  whom  Mr.  Cleveland  had  so 
confidently  referred,  were  still  firm  supporters  of  our 
protective  system.  Even  amid  embarrassments  so 
great,  the  tariff  act  of  1890  produced  sufficient  revenue 
for  the  support  of  the  Government.  This  was  shown 
by  the  message  of  President  Cleveland  at  the  opening 
of  the  first  regular  session  of  the  Fifty-third  Congress, 
on  December  4,  1893,  in  which  he  said : 

"  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  reports  that  the  re- 
ceipts of  the  Government  from  all  sources  during  the 
fiscal  year  ended  June  30, 1893,  amounted  to  $461,716,- 
561.94,  and  its  expenditures  to  $459,374,674.29.  There 
was  collected  from  customs  $205,355,016.73,  and  from 
internal  revenue  $161,027,623.93.  Our  dutiable  im- 
ports amounted  to  $421,856,711,  an  increase  of  $52,- 
453,907  over  the  preceding  year,  and  importations  free 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  193 

of  duty  amounted  to  $444,544,211,  a  decrease  from  the 
preceding  year  of  $13,455,447.  Internal  revenue  re- 
ceipts exceeded  those  of  the  preceding  year  by  $7,147,- 
445.32." 

His  recommendations  upon  the  tariff  are  especially 
noteworthy  because  of  the  endorsement  he  gave  in  ad- 
vance to  a  bill  which  had  not  yet  been  introduced  in 
Congress;  perhaps  the  first  instance  of  the  kind  in  the 
history  of  the  Government.  It  had  been  prepared  by 
the  Democratic  majority  of  the  Ways  and  Means  Com- 
mittee of  the  House  during  its  vacation,  after  the  ad- 
journment of  the  special  session  on  October  5th.  The 
bill  as  a  whole  had  not  yet  been  given  to  the  press, 
nor  had  any  comprehensive  analysis  of  it  been  pre- 
sented, but  still  the  President  heartily  endorsed  it  in 
the  following  confident  strains  : 

"  After  a  hard  struggle  tariff  reform  is  directly  be- 
fore us.  Nothing  so  important  claims  our  attention 
and  nothing  so  clearly  presents  itself  as  both  an  op- 
portunity and  a  duty — an  opportunity  to  deserve  the 
gratitude  of  our  fellow-citizens  and  a  duty  imposed 
upon  us  by  our  oft-repeated  professions  and  by  the 
emphatic  mandate  of  the  people.  After  full  discus- 
sion, our  countrymen  have  spoken  in  favor  of  this  re- 
form, and  they  have  confided  the  work  of  its  accom- 
plishment to  the  hands  of  those  who  are  solemnly 
pledged  to  it.  If  there  is  anything  in  the  theory  of 
a  representation  in  public  places  of  the  people  and 
their  desires,  if  public  officers  are  really  the  servants 
of  the  people,  and  if  political  promises  and  professions 
have  any  binding  force,  our  failure  to  give  the  relief 
so  long  awaited  will  be  sheer  recreancy.  Nothing 


194  THE  TAEIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

should  intervene  to  distract  our  attention  or  disturb 
our  effort  until  this  reform  is  accomplished  by  wise 
and  careful  legislation.  While  we  should  staunchly  ad- 
here to  the  principle  that  only  the  necessity  of  revenue 
justifies  the  imposition  of  tariff  duties  and  other  Federal 
taxation,  and  that  they  should  be  limited  by  strict 
economy,  we  can  not  close  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  con- 
ditions have  grown  up  among  us  which  in  justice  and 
fairness  call  for  discriminating  care  in  the  distribution 
of  such  duties  and  taxation  as  the  emergencies  of  our 
Government  actually  demand.  Manifestly,  if  we  are  to 
aid  the  people  directly  through  tariff  reform,  one  of  its 
most  obvious  features  should  be  a  reduction  in  present 
tariff  charges  upon  the  necessaries  of  life.  The  benefits 
of  such  a  reduction  would  be  palpable  and  substantial, 
seen  and  felt  by  thousands  who  would  be  better  fed 
and  better  clothed  and  better  sheltered.  These  gifts 
should  be  the  willing  benefactions  of  a  Government 
whose  highest  function  is  the  promotion  of  the  welfare 
of  the  people.  Not  less  closely  related  to  our  people's 
prosperity  and  well-being  is  the  removal  of  restrictions 
upon  the  importation  of  the  raw  materials  necessary  to 
our  manufactures.  The  world  should  be  open  to  our 
National  ingenuity  and  enterprise.  This  can  not  be 
while  Federal  legislation,  through  the  imposition  of  a 
high  tariff,  forbids  to  American  manufacturers  as  cheap 
materials  as  those  used  by  their  competitors.  It  is 
quite  obvious  that  the  enhancement  of  the  price  of  our 
manufactured  products  resulting  from  this  policy  not 
only  confines  the  market  for  these  products  within  our 
own  borders,  to  the  direct  disadvantage  of  our  manu- 
facturers, but  also  increases  their  cost  to  our  citizens. 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  195 

The  interests  of  labor  are  certainly,  though  indirectly, 
involved  in  this  feature  of  our  tariff  system.    The  sharp 
competition  and  active  struggle  among  our  manufac- 
turers to  supply  the  limited  demand  for  their  goods 
soon  fill  the  narrow  market  to  which  they  are  confined. 
Then  follows  a  suspension  of  work  in  mill  and  factories, 
a  discharge  of  employes,  and  distress  in  the  homes  of 
our  workingmen.     Even  if  the  often-disproved  assertion 
could  be  made  good  that  a  lower  rate  of  wages  would 
result  from  free  raw  materials  and  low  tariff  duties,  the 
intelligence  of  our  workingmen  leads  them  quickly  to 
discover  that  their  steady  employment,  permitted  by 
free  raw  materials,  is  the  most  important  factor  in  their 
relation  to  tariff  legislation.     A  measure  has  been  pre- 
pared by  the  appropriate  Congressional  Committee  em- 
bodying tariff  reform  on  the  lines  herein  suggested, 
which  will  be  promptly  submitted  for  legislative  action. 
It  is  the  result  of  much  patriotic  and  unselfish  work, 
and  I  believe  it  deals  with  its  subject  consistently  and 
as  thoroughly  as  existing  conditions  permit.   I  am  satis- 
fied that  the  reduced  tariff  duties  provided  for  in  the 
proposed  legislation,  added  to  existing  internal-revenue 
taxation,  will,  in  the  near  future,  though  perhaps  not 
immediately,  produce   sufficient  revenue  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  Government.     The  Committee,  after  full 
consideration,  and  to  provide  against  a  temporary  de- 
ficiency which  may  exist  before  the  business   of  the 
country  adjusts  itself  to  the  new  tariff  schedules,  have 
wisely  embraced  in  their   plan   a   few  additional   in- 
ternal-revenue  taxes,  including  a   small  tax  upon  in- 
comes   derived    from    certain    corporate    investments. 
These  new  assessments   are    not    only  absolutely  just 


196  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

and  easily  borne,  but  they  have  the  further  merit  of 
being  such  as  can  be  remitted  without  unfavorable 
business  disturbance  whenever  the  necessity  of  their 
imposition  no  longer  exists.  In  my  great  desire  for 
.the  success  of  this  measure,  I  can  not  restrain  the  sug- 
gestion that  its  success  can  only  be  attained  by  means 
of  unselfish  counsel  on  the  part  of  the  friends  of  tariff 
reform,  and  as  a  result  of  their  willingness  to  sub- 
ordinate personal  desires  and  ambitions  to  the  general 
good.  The  local  interests  affected  by  the  proposed  re- 
form are  so  numerous  and  so  varied  that  if  all  are 
insisted  upon  the  legislation  embodying  the  reform 
must  inevitably  fail.  In  conclusion,  my  intense  feeling 
of  responsibility  impels  me  to  invoke  for  the  manifold 
interests  of  a  generous  and  confiding  people  the  most 
scrupulous  care,  and  to  pledge  my  willing  support  to 
every  legislative  effort  for  the  advancement  of  the 
greatness  and  prosperity  of  our  beloved  country." 

On  December  19,  1893,  Mr.  Wilson,  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  "Ways  and  Means,  introduced  the  general 
tariff  bill  of  the  session — entitled  "a  bill  to  reduce 
taxation,  to  provide  revenue  for  the  Government,  and 
for  other  purposes."  He  submitted  with  it  an  explana- 
tory statement  of  the  purposes  of  the  majority,  from 
which  the  following  clauses  are  taken : 

"  This  bill,  on  which  the  Committee  has  expended 
much  patient  and  anxious  labor,  is  not  offered  as  a  com- 
plete response  to  the  mandate  of  the  American  people. 
It  no  more  professes  to  be  purged  of  all  protection  than 
to  be  free  of  all  error  in  its  complex  and  manifold  de- 
tails. However  we  may  deny  the  existence  of  any 
legislative  pledge  or  the  right  of  any  Congress  to  make 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  197 

such  pledge  for  the  continuance  of  duties  that  cany 
with  them  more  or  less  acknowledged  protection,  we  are 
forced  to  consider  that  great  interests  do  exist  whose 
existence  and  prosperity  it  is  no  part  of  our  reform 
either  to  imperil  or  to  curtail.  We  believe,  and  we  have 
the  warrant  of  our  own  past  experience  for  believing, 
that  reduction  of  duties  will  not  injure,  but  give  more 
abundant  life  to  all  our  great  manufacturing  industries, 
however  much  they  may  dread  the  change.  But  in 
dealing  with  the  tariff,  as  with  every  other  long-standing 
abuse  that  has  interwoven  itself  with  our  social  or  in- 
dustrial system,  the  legislator  must  always  remember 
that  in  the  beginning  temperate  reform  is  safest,  having 
in  itself  '  the  principle  of  growth.' 

"  When  Congress  began  to  repeal  war  burdens  and  to 
relieve  manufacturers  of  the  internal  taxes,  which  they 
had  used  to  secure  compensating  duties  on  like  foreign 
products,  there  arose  a  demand  throughout  the  country, 
without  respect  to  party,  for  a  reduction  of  the  war 
tariff.  Unable  to  resist  this  demand,  the  protected  in- 
dustries baffled  and  thwarted  any  reduction  of  con- 
sequence until  1872,  when  they  defeated  a  House  bill 
that  did  make  a  substantial  reduction  by  substituting  a 
Senate  bill  which  carried  a  horizontal  cut  of  ten  per 
cent.  As  soon,  however,  as  the  elections  of  1874  gave 
the  next  House  to  the  Democratic  party,  that  reduction 
was  repealed  by  the  outgoing  Republicans,  and  rates  re- 
stored to  what  they  were  before  1872. 

11  The  history  of  American  industry  shows  that  during 
no  other  period  has  there  been  a  more  healthy  and 
rapid  development  of  our  manufacturing  industry  than 
during  the  fifteen  years  of  low  tariff  from  1846  to  1861, 


198  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

nor  a  more  healthy  and  harmonious  growth  of  agricul- 
ture and  all  the  other  great  industries  of  the  country. 
No  chapter  in  our  political  experience  carries  with  it  a 
more  salutary  lesson  than  this,  and  none  could  appeal 
more  strongly  to  law  makers  to  establish  a  just  and 
rational  system  of  public  revenues,  neither  exhausting 
agriculture  by  constant  blood-letting  nor  keeping  manu- 
facturers alternating  between  chills  and  fevers  by  arti- 
ficial pampering.  In  this  direction  alone  lies  stability, 
concord  of  sections,  and  of  great  industries.  We  have 
already  said  that  public  discussion  may  disclose  errors 
of  minor  detail  in  the  schedules  of  our  bill.  To  escape 
such  errors  would  require  so  thorough  and  minute  a 
knowledge  of  all  the  divisions,  sub-divisions,  complex 
and  manifold  mazes  and  involutions  of  our  chemical, 
textile,  metal,  and  other  industries  that  no  committee  of 
Congress,  no  matter  how  extended  the  range  of  their 
personal  knowledge  or  how  laborious  and  painstaking 
their  efforts,  could  ever  hope  to  possess.  "We  have  not 
forgotten  that  we  represent  the  people,  who  are 'the 
many,  as  well  as  the  protected  interests,  who  are  the 
few,  and  while  we  have  dealt  with  the  latter  in  no  spirit 
of  unfriendliness,  we  have  felt  that  it  was  our  duty,  and 
not  their  privilege,  to  make  the  tariff  schedules.  Those 
who  concede  the  right  of  beneficiaries  to  fix  their  own 
bounties  must  necessarily  commit  to  them  the  framing 
and  verbiage  of  the  laws  by  which  those  bounties  are 
secured  for  them.  A  committee  of  Congress  thus  be- 
comes merely  the  amanuensis  of  the  protected  interests. 
"We  have  believed  that  the  first  step  toward  a  reform 
of  the  tariff  should  be  a  release  of  taxes  on  the  materi- 
als of  industry.  There  can  be  no  substantial  and  bene- 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  199 

ficial  reduction  upon  the  necessary  clothing  and  other 
comforts  of  the  American  people,  nor  any  substantial 
and  beneficial  enlargement  of  the  field  of  American  la- 
bor as  long  as  we  tax  the  materials  and  processes  of  pro- 
duction. Every  tax  upon  the  producer  falls  with  in- 
creased force  upon  the  consumer.  Every  tax  on  the 
producer  in  this  country  is  a  protection  to  his  competit- 
ors in  all  other  countries,  and  so  narrows  his  markets  as 
to  limit  the  number  and  lessen  the  wages  of  those  to 
whom  he  can  give  employment.  Every  cheapening  in 
the  cost  or  enlargement  of  the  supply  of  his  raw  materi- 
als, while  primarily  inuring  to  the  benefit  of  the  manu- 
facturer himself,  passes  under  free  competition  immedi- 
ately and  passes  entirely  to  the  consumer,  who  very  soon 
gets  even  more  benefit  out  of  it  than  such  reductions 
seem  to  carry,  because  with  the  rapid  widening  of  his 
market  the  manufacturer  is  able  to  sell  at  a  smaller  pro- 
fit. It  is  therefore  a  very  narrow  and  short-sighted  view 
which  supposes  that  we  release  the  duties  on  iron  ore, 
coal,  wool,  and  other  like  articles,  solely  for  the  benefit 
of  those  who  manufacture  our  iron,  steel,  woolen,  and 
other  fabric  s. 

"  This  House  in  two  Congresses  in  recent  years  hav- 
ing, after  full  debate,  passed  laws  putting  wool  upon  the 
free  list,  it  is  not  deemed  necessary  in  this  report  to  at- 
tempt a  re-statement  of  the  reasons  for  doing  so.  It  is 
enough  to  say  that  the  tariff  upon  wool,  while  bringing 
no  real  benefit  to  the  American  wool -grower,  least  of  all 
to  the  American  farmer,  who,  in  any  balancing  of  ac- 
counts, must  see  that  he  yearly  pays  out  a  good  dollar 
for  every  doubtful  dime  he  may  receive  under  its  opera- 
tion, has  disastrously  hampered  our  manufacturing  in- 


200  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

dustry  and  made  cruel  and  relentless  war  upon  the 
health,  the  comfort,  and  the  productive  energy  of  the 
American  people.  Logs  are  already  on  the  free  list. 
We  have  gone  a  step  further  and  put  undressed  lumber 
generally  on  that  list.  This  may  serve  to  cheapen  and 
improve  the  dwelling  houses  of  some  of  our  people,  but 
it  is  justified  if  it  shall  accomplish  nothing  more  than  to 
delay  the  rapid  destruction  of  American  forests.  We  have 
also  placed  flax  and  hemp,  unshackled,  on  the  free  list,  for 
the  reasons  stated  above,  that  we  may  give  to  the  Amer- 
ican workingman  untaxed  material  to  work  with,  and 
that  we  may  give  the  finished  product  as  far  as  possible 
to  the  consumer  with  but  a  single  tax,  and  that  a  moder- 
ate one,  instead  of  a  medley  and  cumulation  of  taxes 
gathered  during  the  process  of  production.  In  addition 
to  these  so-called  raw  materials,  we  have  released  from 
tariff  duties  certain  important  articles  and  manufactures 
which  we  have  shown  our  capacity  to  produce  more 
cheaply  than  any  other  country,  such  as  pig  copper  and 
the  important  agricultural  implements.  Any  article  of 
manufacture  which  can  sustain  the  competition  of  like 
foreign  articles  in  other  markets  can  defy  such  competi- 
tion in  the  home  market,  and  is  not  protected  by  the 
duty,  but  by  its  own  intrinsic  superior  cheapness  or 
quality.  In  the  earthenware  schedule  we  have  made 
substantial  reductions,  still  leaving  rates  as  high  as  were 
deemed  necessary  in  the  war  tariff.  In  common  window 
glass,  where  close  combinations  have  kept  up  the  prices 
to  consumers  under  a  scale  of  duties  averaging  more  than 
one  hundred  per  cent.,  we  have  made  a  reduction  of 
about  one-half.  Upon  the  larger  sizes  of  plate  glass, 
where  the  duties  were  even  higher,  we  have  made  a  re- 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  201 

duction  of  about  one-third.  In  the  iron  and  steel  sched- 
ule, beginning  with  free  ore,  and  a  duty  of  22£  per  cent, 
on  pig  iron,  we  have  reported  a  scale  of  duties  consider- 
ably below  those  of  the  existing  law,  graduated  accord- 
ing to  the  degree  of  manufacture  which  should  bring 
benefit  to  the  consumer  without  calling  for  any  halt  in 
the  imperial  progress  of  that  great  industry  in  our  coun- 
try. The  duty  upon  steel  rails  has  been  put  at  twenty- 
five  per  cent,  which,  according  to  the  reports  of  our  De- 
partment of  Labor,  quite  compensates  for  all  difference  in 
the  cost  of  production  in  this  country  and  abroad.  There 
seems  to  be  an  authentic  report  that  the  pool  of  Amer- 
ican rail-makers  which,  under  the  shelter  of  the  present 
duty  of  $13.44  per  ton,  has  kept  up  prices  to  the 
American  consumer  far  beyond  the  cost  of  production 
and  legitimate  profits,  has  been  reorganized  to  continue 
the  regulation  of  their  prices  above  the  proper  market 
rates.  As  all  shippers,  and  especially  American  farm- 
ers, are  vitally  interested  in  cheapening  the  cost  of 
transportation,  rates  of  duty  upon  steel  rails  should  be 
adjusted  so  as  to  protect  them  from  monopoly  prices 
and  monopoly  combinations.  Upon  tin  plate  the  duty 
has  been  gauged  with  reference  to  the  revenue  it  will 
bring  into  the  Treasury,  and  the  difference  between  this 
duty  and  that  upon  the  black  plate  has  been  lessened 
with  a  view  to  discourage  what  may  not  unjustly 
be  called  the  bogus  industry  of  making  American  tin 
plate  by. the  mere  dipping  in  this  country  of  the  im- 
ported black  plate.  In  the  sugar  schedule  we  should 
have  preferred  to  wipe  out  at  a  single  legislative  stroke 
the  existing  bounty  system.  We  believe  it  to  be  con- 
trary to  the  spirit  of  our  institutions,  and  can  conceive 


202  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

of  no  circumstances  under  which  we  should  have 
advocated  or  approved  its  introduction  into  our  laws. 
We  have  found  it  existing  there,  as  we  find  it  virtually 
existing  in  every  other  schedule  of  the  tariff,  and  deal- 
ing with  it  in  its  more  open  and  offensive  form,  in  the 
same  spirit  we  have  dealt  with  other  schedules  where 
large  property  interests  are  at  stake,  we  have  reported 
a  provision  for  its  repeal  by  such  stages  as  shall 
gradually  obliterate  it  from  our  laws,  while  permitting 
those  who  have  invested  large  means,  under  the  ex- 
pectation of  its  continuance,  reasonable  time  in  which 
they  may  prepare  to  take  their  stand  with  the  other 
industries  of  the  country. 

"  Duties  upon  imported  tobacco  leaf  suitable  for  cigar 
wrappers,  which  were  so  advanced  by  the  act  of  1890, 
have  been  placed  at  such  figures,  as,  after  careful  in- 
vestigation, were  deemed  likely  to  produce  most 
revenue  to  the  Treasury,  but  while  revenue  alone  has 
been  the  object  sought,  their  amount  is  so  high  that  no 
domestic  producer  need  claim  that  there  is  not  abun- 
dant protection  and  to  spare  for  his  product  in  them. 
Of  the  staple  agricultural  products,  including  meats 
and  provisions,  we  are  such  large  exporters  and  must 
continue  to  be  such  large  exporters  that  any  duties 
upon  them  are  useless  for  protection  and  fruitless 
for  revenue,  and  generally  can  only  be  imposed  for  the 
purpose  of  deluding  the  less  intelligent  of  our  farmers 
into  the  belief  that  they  are  receiving  some  considera- 
tion and  benefit  under  the  tariff,  although  the  prices  of 
their  products  are  fixed  in  the  world's  market  in  com- 
petition with  like  products  produced  by  the  cheapest 
labor  of  the  world.  To  the  farmers  of  the  country 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  203 

we  have  given  untaxed  agricultural  implements,  bind- 
ing twine,  free  salt  and  untaxed  cotton  ties,  for  the 
additional  reason  in  this  last  case  that  cotton  is  the 
largest  export  crop  of  the  country,  sold  abroad  in  com- 
petition with  the  cheap  labor  of  India  and  of  Egypt, 
and  we  believe  that  it  is  enough  for  the  private  tax- 
gatherer  to  follow  it  in  the  markets  of  his  own  country 
without  pursuing  it  to  all  the  markets  of  the  world. 
As  cotton  bagging  can  be  used  but  once,  we  have 
thought  it  but  just  to  extend  the  draw-back  system  to 
such  bagging  made  of  jute  butts  when  used  upon 
exported  cotton,  a  privilege  which  the  exporter  of 
wheat  can  already  enjoy,  coupled  with  the  further  ad- 
vantage in  his  case  that  the  same  bags  may  be  used  for 
successive  exportations  of  grain. 

"  The  placing  of  wool  upon  the  free  list  has  justified 
a  very  substantial  reduction  of  the  duties  on  woolen 
goods.  Of  the  woolen  tariff  it  may  be  truly  said,  as 
was  said  of  the  woolen  tariff  of  1882,  'that  it  is  the 
masterpiece  of  the  ultra  restrictionists  and  exhibits  all 
the  worse  features  of  the  system.7  Although  the  im- 
ports of  1892  show  an  average  duty  of  95.82  per  cent, 
in  the  woolen  schedule,  it  can  not  be  said  that  woolen 
manufacture  has  been  a  flourishing  industry  in  this 
country,  or  that  the  American  wool-grower  has  secured 
remunerative  prices  for  his  wool.  With  free  wool  we 
anticipate  great  benefits  to  consumers  of  woolen  goods, 
a  revival  of  the  woolen  industry,  such  as  that  which 
followed  the  tariff  of  1857,  and  a  steadier  and  better 
market  for  the  American  wool-grower.  We  have 
placed  the  duties  upon  woolen  fabrics  at  forty  per  cent., 
but  with  a  proviso  for  a  uniform  cut  of  five  per  cent., 


204  THE  TAKIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

with  a  lapse  of  five  years,  beginning  on  the  first  day  of 
July,  1896. 

"  A  most  important  change  in  the  bill  proposed  from 
the  present  law  will  be  found  in  the  general  substitution 
of  ad  valorem  for  specific  duties.  This  must  always  be 
the  characteristic  of  a  revenue  tariff  levied  upon  a  large 
range  of  articles,  especially  when  they  include  the  plain 
necessaries  of  life. 

"  It  is  the  purpose  of  the  present  bill  to  repeal  in  toto 
section  three  of  the  tariff  act  of  Cbtober  1,  1890,  com- 
monly but  erronneously  called  its  reciprocity  pro- 
vision. That  act  placed  sugar,  molasses,  coffee,  tea  and 
hides  on  the  free  list,  but  authorized  the  President, 
should  he  be  satisfied  that  the  government  of  any 
other  country  producing  such  articles  imposed  duties 
upon  the  agricultural  or  other  products  of  the  United 
States  which  he  might  deem  reciprocally  unequal  and 
unreasonable,  to  suspend  the  provision  under  which  these 
articles  were  admitted  into  this  country  free.  This  sec- 
tion has  brought  no  appreciable  advantage  to  Amer- 
ican exporters  ;  it  is  not  in  intention  or  effect  a  pro- 
vision for  reciprocity,  but  for  retaliation.  It  inflicts 
penalties  upon  the  American  people  by  making  them 
pay  higher  prices  for  these  articles  if  the  fiscal  neces- 
sities of  other  nations  compel  them  to  levy  duties  upon 
the  products  of  the  United  States  which,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  President,  are  reciprocally  unequal  and  unreason- 
able. Under  the  provisions  of  this  section  Presidential 
proclamations  have  been  issued  imposing  retaliatory 
duties  upon  the  five  above-mentioned  articles  when 
coming  from  certain  countries.  These  proclamations 
have  natually  led  to  ill-feeling  in  the  countries  thus- 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  205 

discriminated  against,  and  to  diplomatic  correspondence 
in  which  it  has  been  claimed  with  apparent  justice,  that 
such  discriminations  were  in  violation  of  our  solemn 
treaty  obligations.  Moreover,  we  do  not  believe  that 
Congress  can  rightly  vest  in  the  President  of  the 
United  States  any  authority  or  power  to  impose  or  re- 
lease taxes  on  our  people  by  proclamation  or  otherwise, 
or  to  suspend  or  dispense  with  the  operation  of  a  law 
of  Congress." 

The  minority  of  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee 
(Messrs.  Eeed,  Burrows,  Payne,  Dalzell,  Hopkins  and 
Gear,  the  Republican  members),  presented  the  follow- 
ing views  in  opposition  to  the  proposed  law : 

"  The  most  surprising  thing  about  the  bill  is  the  fact 
that  this  proposition  to  raise  revenue  will  lower  the 
revenue  of  this  country  $74,000,000  below  the  revenue 
of  1893,  which  was  only  $2,000,000  above  our  expenses. 
This  fact  and  the  other  fact  that  by  this  bill  the  larger 
part  of  the  burden  of  taxation  is  transferred  from 
foreigners,  and  borne  by  our  own  citizens,  should  always 
be  kept  in  mind  during  the  discussion. 

"  It  unfortunately  happens  that  *  free  raw  material " 
is  an  elastic  term,  and  what  is  one  man's  free  raw  ma- 
terial is  another  man's  finished  product.  The  manufac- 
turer in  Massachusetts  is  told  that  he  is  to  be  encouraged 
by  having  free  lumber  to  build  his  factory  and  to  pack 
his  goods,  but  inasmuch  as  that  very  lumber  thus  made 
free  is  the  Maine  manufacturer's  finished  product,  no 
wonder  the  Democrats  of  Bangor,  the  mills  on  the 
Penobscot  being  unable  to  move  a  saw,  denounced 
4  class  legislation '  with  a  new  appreciation  of  what  class 
legislation  really  means.  And  with  the  dwellers  on  the 


206  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

Penobscot  sympathize  the  lumbermen  in  Wisconsin  and 
Michigan,  the  Pacific  slope,  Alabama,  Georgia  and 
Florida.  So  also  the  miners  in  Michigan,  struggling  this 
very  moment  with  starvation,  realize  that  the  most 
odious  class  legislation  there  can  possibly  be  is  the  legis- 
lation which  protects  labor  in  the  mill  and  leaves  it  in 
the  mines  to  the  charity  of  the  great  cities.  These  so- 
called  '  free  raw  materials,'  free  wool,  free  coal,  and  free 
iron  are  not  put  on  the  free  list  with  any  reference,  di- 
rect or  indirect,  to  raising  revenue.  They  are  placed 
there  to  encourage  manufacturers  who  are  to  be  com- 
pensated for  any  loss  in  this  market  by  the  markets  of 
the  world  where  they  will  have  the  chance  to  struggle 
with  the  cheaper  labor  of  the  Old  World  with  whatever 
energy  they  may  have  left  after  the  struggle  at  home 
with  that  same  cheaper  labor  let  into  our  markets  by  a 
lower  tariff  which  does  not  give  us  the  compensation 
even  of  a  larger  revenue. 

"  The  doctrine  of  the  Democratic  platform  that  pro- 
tection is  robbery  and  should  be  abolished  is  compre- 
hensible and  sturdy.  The  new  movement  on  behalf  of 
mitigated  and  sporadic  robbery  is  contrary  alike  to  good 
morals  and  public  faith.  All  false  pretenses  are  unwise, 
contrary  to  sound  policy  and  sound  statesmanship. 
Hence  many  of  us  who  are  sure  that  the  Democratic 
platform  is  utterly  untrue  admitted  its  straightforward- 
ness and  directness.  This  bill,  framed  by  those  who 
represent  the  platform,  can  not  receive  that  kind  of 
praise.  It  pretends  to  be  a  revenue  tariff,  and  does  not 
raise  revenue.  It  pretends  to  give  protection,  but  de- 
stroys it  in  every  indirect  way. 

"  But  while  this  bill  in  its  principle,  if  it  has  any,  IB 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  207 

not  unprotective,  it  will  be  absolutely  so  in  practice  not 
only  in  its  direct  reductions  but  also  in  its  indirect 
reductions  sure  to  come  from  the  change  from  specific 
duties  to  ad  valorem,  which  is  a  marked  feature  of  the 
bill.  An  ad  valorem  duty,  as  the  name  implies,  is  one 
which  varies  according  to  the  price.  If  prices  could  be 
exactly  determined  nothing  would  seem  to  be  fairer 
than  an  ad  valorem  duty.  But,  unfortunately,  prices 
are  very  much  matters  of  opinion,  on  which  honest  men 
may  differ  much  and  rogues  much  more.  Inasmuch  as 
the  duty  depends  on  the  price,  a  cheat  on  the  price  is  a 
cheat  on  the  duty.  If  a  piece  of  goods  is  worth  $6  a 
yard  and  the  duty  is  twenty-five  per  cent.,  the  correct 
duty  is  $1.50.  If  the  price  be  invoiced  at  $5  a  yard 
and  the  fraud  not  detected,  the  duty  collected  becomes 
$1.25,  and  the  ad  valorem,  which  seems  to  be  twenty- 
five  per  cent.,  becomes  about  twenty  per  cent.,  and  not 
only  is  the  Government  cheated  out  of  its  quarter  of  a 
dollar,  but  the  manufacturer  is  cheated  out  of  one-fifth 
of  the  protection  his  Government  has  promised  him. 
So  great  have  been  the  objections  in  actual  American 
practice  to  the  ad  valorem  duties  that  among  the  names 
which  can  be  cited  against  it  are  some  of  the  most 
illustrious  in  American  history:  Hamilton,  Gallatin, 
Crawford,  Webster,  and  Van  Buren,  with  Buchanan  and 
Daniel  Manning.  Such,  too,  has  been  the  experience  of 
all  other  nations,  and  their  tariff  bills  show  such  an 
exclusion  of  ad  valorem  duties  as  makes  even  the  act  of 
1890  seem  objectionable  on  that  very  account.  That 
the  example  given  above  of  a  piece  of  goods  lowered 
from  $6  to  $5  is  reasonable  is  evident  from  this  very 
bill,  where  an  undervaluation  has  to  reach  forty  per 


208  THE  TAKIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

cent.,  which  in  this  case  would  be  from  $6  to  $3.60,  in 
order  to  create  presumption  of  fraud.  This,  therefore, 
is  not  theory.  It  is  within  the  experience  of  every 
merchant  that  goods  which  can  not  be  purchased  at  all 
in  Europe  can  be  purchased,  duty  paid,  in  New  York,  at 
lower  prices  than  like  goods  can  be  purchased  by  the 
honest  merchant  who  values  them  at  their  true  market 
value  and  pays  the  duty  demanded  by  the  Government, 
and  yet  these  ad  valorem  duties  thus  objectionable  have 
been  increased  in  number  everywhere,  being  substituted 
in  nearly  all  the  schedules  for  specific  duties. 

"A  serious  general  objection  to  the  bill  is  that  it 
decreases  the  revenue  according  to  the  calculations 
usually  made  by  the  Treasury  Department  as  compared 
with  1893  about  $74,000,000.  This  large  deficit,  coming 
as  it  does  upon  a  depleted  Treasury,  is  rather  appalling 
in  a  bill  for  revenue  only.  How  this  great  hole  in  our 
resources,  as  a  Nation,  is  to  be  filled,  no  one  knows.  At 
this  date  not  even  the  Committee  knows  itself,  unless 
the  President,  anticipating  in  his  message  to  Congress 
the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  shall 
afford  to  the  Committee  itself  its  wished-for  clue. 
Against  the  consideration  of  such  a  bill  creating  such  a 
deficit  and  leaving  it  unaccounted  for,  the  minority 
vainly  protested  when  the  bill  was  laid  before  the  Com- 
mittee. Who  would  dare,  if  of  sound  and  statesmanlike 
mind,  to  create  a  deficit  of  $74,000,000,  and  blindly  vote 
it  with  no  plan  in  sight  whereby  the  Government  could 
meet  its  expenditures  ?  That  same  protest  we  make  to 
the  House  and  to  the  country." 

The  minority  then  proceeded  to  a  consideration  of  the 
bill  as  to  particular  items.  It  will  be  impossible  to  do 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  209 

more  than  notice  as  briefly  as  may  be,  their  objections, 
to  a  few  of  the  more  important  schedules : 

"  That  which  lies  at  the  base  of  our  iron  and  steel 
industry  is  iron  ore.  The  existing  duty  thereon  is 
seventy-five  cents  per  ton.  The  revenues  from  its  im- 
portation aggregated  in  the  last  fiscal  year  over  half  a 
million  of  dollars.  It  is  proposed  under  a  i  tariff  bill 
for  revenue  only/  to  throw  away  absolutely  every  cent 
of  this  large  revenue  by  putting  iron  ore  on  the  free 
list.  That,  however,  may  be  said  to  be  a  comparatively 
small  matter  in  comparison  with  the  effect  that  the  pro- 
posed measure  will  have  upon  our  home  industry  by 
the  substitution  for  native  of  foreign  ores,  the  product 
of  cheap  foreign  labor.  Our  ore  industry,  from  what- 
ever point  viewed,  is  among  the  most  important.  Ac- 
cording to  the  Census  figures  of  1890,  the  production  of 
iron  ore  for  the  year  ending  December  31,  1889,  was  in 
excess  of  fourteen  and  a  half  million  tons.  Its  value 
was  more  than  thirty-three  and  a  third  millions  of  dol- 
lars. Twenty-six  States  and  two  Territories,  North, 
South,  East  and  West,  contributed  to  it.  In  the  amount 
and  value  of  production  Michigan  stands  first,  and 
whether  Pennsylvania,  a  Middle  State,  or  Alabama,  a 
Southern  State,  stands  second  is  a  question  of  doubt. 
The  amount  of  capital  invested  is  nearly  a  hundred  and 
ten  millions  of  dollars,  and  the  number  of  men  directly 
employed  over  thirty-eight  thousand.  The  average 
annual  earning  capacity  for  each  person  so  employed  at 
current  wages  is  $409.95.  Of  course  in  taking  account 
of  the  value  of  this  industry  to  American  labor  there 
must  be  added  all  the  various  labor  processes,  including 
the  transportation,  necessary  to  get  the  ore  from  the 


210  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

hills  into  the  furnace  stack.  The  theorist  who  talks 
about  '  raw  materials '  never  permits  himself  to  realize 
that,  as  has  been  well  said,  '  Nature  rarely  dispenses 
with  transportation.  She  never  separates,  assorts, 
cleanses,  and  feeds  into  the  hopper  or  the  stack.'  The 
bill  proposes  to  put  into  competition  with  American 
ores  foreign  ores,  some  of  which  are  produced  at  a  labor 
cost  one-tenth  and  none  of  them  at  a  labor  cost  greater 
than  one-fourth  of  ours.  It  proposes  to  bring  our  labor- 
ers who  get  from  $1.60  to  $2  per  day,  and  who  work 
from  fifty-five  to  sixty  hours  a  week,  into  competition 
with  laborers  who  work  seventy-two  hours  a  week  and 
get  thirty-six  to  sixty  cents  per  day ;  our  miners  who  get 
from  $2.25  to  $2.75  per  day  into  competition  with  those 
who  get  from  sixty  to  seventy-two  cents  per  day.  It 
proposes  to  condemn  to  temporary  idleness  and  ulti- 
mately to  divert  into  new  channels,  after  an  immense 
loss,  if  not  the  whole  at  least  a  large  part  of  an  invested 
capital  of  over  thirty-three  and  one-third  millions  of 
dollars ;  to  deprive  our  transportation  lines  of  a  large 
proportion  of  their  profits  from  the  carriage  of  the  ore 
product,  and  to  leave  undeveloped  treasures  hidden 
under  the  soil  of  twenty-six  States  and  two  Territories. 
Foreign  ore  will  take  the  place  of  our  domestic  product 
to  a  great  extent,  and  this  will  cripple  if  it  does  not 
entirely  destroy  our  home  industry.  Ocean  freights  are 
so  low  as  to  afford  no  protection.  Ore  is  frequently  car- 
ried across  the  ocean  as  ballast,  and  when  freight  is  paid 
at  all  it  averages  not  to  exceed  five  shillings  per  ton  on 
iron  ore  from  Bilboa  and  other  points  in  Spain.  Under 
these  circumstances  there  is  no  question  but  that  foreign 
ores  will  take  the  place  of  domestic  in  all  furnaces  along 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  211 

and  within  easy  reach  of  the  coast,  and  its  low  price  be- 
cause of  cheap  labor  cost  will  enable  it  to  bear  freight 
charges  for  long  distances  even  into  the  interior.  In  the 
last  analysis  the  placing  of  iron  ore  on  the  free  list 
means  either  the  abandonment  of  that  industry  with 
us,  or  the  mining  of  ore  to  be  sold  in  competition  with 
the  cheap  labor  of  Cuba,  Africa,  and  Spain. 

"Having  sacrificed  over  half  a  million  dollars  per 
annum  of  revenue  to  the  vagary  of  free  trade,  this 
tariff  bill  '  for  revenue  only '  proposes  to  affect  another 
large  source  of  revenue  by  the  serious  reduction  of  the 
duties  on  pig  iron.  That  duty  is  now  $6.72  per  ton. 
The  duty  proposed  is  22^  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  or 
about  $1.60  to  $1.90  per  ton,  a  lower  tariff  than  was 
ever  before  proposed  on  this  article.  That  suggested 
by  the  Mills  bill  was  $6.00  per  ton;  under  the 
tariff  of  1846  the  duty  was  thirty  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 
The  revenue  from  pig  iron  during  the  last  fiscal  year 
amounted  to  over  one-third  of  a  million  dollars.  While 
decreased  duties  will  add  to  importation,  it  is  to  be 
noticed  that  the  difference  between  present  and  pro- 
posed duties  is  in  the  neighborhood  of  $5.00  per  ton, 
and  that  a  large  loss  of  the  product  and  a  large  loss 
of  revenue  are  both  inevitable.  Pig  iron,  so  far  as  both 
capital  and  labor  are  concerned,  is  one  of  our  leading 
industries,  and  is  followed  in  twenty- three  States  of  the 
Union.  In  the  year  1892  our  product  was  9,157,000 
tons,  of  a  value  of  $131,161,039,  and  the  prices  at  which 
it  was  sold  to  the  consumer  were  the  lowest  that  it  ever 
commanded.  The  proposed  duty  will  close  all  New 
England  furnaces  and  all  east  of  the  Alleghanies, 
as  well  as  those  of  the  South.  The  market  for  South- 


212  THE  TABIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

ern  pig  iron  is  necessarily  found  in  the  North,  owing  to 
the  lack  of  demand  at  the  place  of  production.  The 
consequence  is,  that  the  competition  of  Southern  pig 
iron,  which  of  all  pig  irons  is  made  at  the  cheapest  cost 
in  this  country,  fixes  the  prices  in  Northern  markets. 
That  price  is  controlled  to  a  large  extent  by  freight 
rates.  Interior  freight  rates  are  very  heavy  as  com- 
pared with  ocean  rates.  In  many  cases  pig  iron  comes 
from  England  and  Belgium  as  ballast,  subject  to  no 
freight  charges  at  all.  In  other  cases  it  bears  a  burden 
not  to  exceed  five  shillings  per  ton.  At  this  figure 
it  can  be  carried  to  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  ports,  and 
even  to  those  of  the  Pacific.  Assuming  that  our  pig 
iron,  made  at  the  least  cost,  is  made  as  cheaply  as  that 
made  abroad,  which  is  not  true,  it  amounts  to  a 
demonstration  that  all  of  our  blast  furnaces,  save  those 
in  the  interior,  must  succumb  to  foreign  competition. 
Even  the  latter,  if  able  to  exist  at  all,  must  do  so  with- 
out a  margin  of  profit. 

"  During  the  year  ending  June  30,  1893,  there  was 
imported  into  the  United  States  628,425,902  pounds  of 
tin  plate  which  paid  a  duty  at  the  rate  of  2.2  cents  per 
pound,  and  thus  produced  a  total  revenue  to  the  Gov- 
ernment of  $13,825,369.84.  It  is  clear  that  the  present 
duty  admirably  serves  the  two-fold  purpose  of  produc- 
ing revenue  for  the  Government  and  of  affording  reason- 
able protection  to  an  American  industry.  No  sufficient 
reason  has  been  advanced  for  the  destruction  of  an  in- 
dustry which  in  such  a  short  period  of  time  has  gained 
so  firm  a  foothold,  and  which  promises  such  a  brilliant 
future.  Side  by  side  with  the  advance  in  the  American 
tinning  of  sheets,  the  manufacture  of  black  sheets  to  be 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  213 

tinned  has  progressed.  According  to  the  most  reliable 
evidence,  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when,  if  proper 
protection  be  continued,  all  the  black  sheets  necessary 
to  make  all  the  tin  plate  required  in  this  country, 
and  all  the  tin  plates  so  required,  will  be  made 
here.  One  of  the  provisions  of  the  existing  law 
is  that  the  duty  of  2.2  cents  per  pound  on 
tin  plates  shall  cease  unless  in  some  one  of 
the  six  years  next  preceding  June  30,  1897, 
the  aggregate  quantity  of  tin  plate  produced  shall 
have  equalled  one-third  of  the  amount  of  such  plates 
imported  and  entered  for  consumption  during  any  fiscal 
year  after  the  passage  of  the  existing  law  and  prior  to 
October  1,  1897.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  our  cap- 
italists have  invested  their  money  in  the  manufacture 
of  tin  plates  upon  the  faith  that  this  provision  operated 
as  a  Governmental  pledge  that  the  tin  plate  duty 
under  existing  law  should  continue  for  a  period  of  six 
years.  Had  the  language  of  the  act  been  embodied  in 
an  instrument  to  which  individuals  were  parties  of  the 
first  and  second  part,  it  could  hardly  successfully  be 
contended  that  there  was  not  a  contract  that  this  duty 
would  continue  for  six  years.  Of  course,  no  claim  of 
legal  contract  can  be  made  against  the  United  States  as 
sovereign,  but  at  the  same  time  it  is  difficult  to  resist 
the  conclusion  that  in  morals  the  contract  exists,  calling 
for  recognition  on  the  part  of  Congress.  Nothing 
seems  more  clear  than  that  the  proposed  change  of 
duty  upon  tin  plates  is  against  the  interests  of  the 
Government  as  a  revenue  measure,  that  it  threatens  the 
destruction  of  one  of  our  most  prosperous  and  growing 
industries,  narrows  the  sphere  of  labor,  works  no  good 


2H  THE  TAKIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

to  the  consumer,  and  approaches  dangerously  near  to 
bad  faith  upon  the  part  of  the  Government. 

"The  tariff  law  of  1890  placed  sugar,  up  to  and  in- 
cluding No.  16  Dutch  Standard,  on  the  free  list,  to  take 
effect  April  1,  1891.  The  duties  which  had  been  col- 
lected from  the  people  on  sugar  prior  to  1890  had 
amounted  to  the  enormous  sum  of  $1,460,412,227,  these 
duties  being  levied  on  an  article  of  prime  necessity  of 
which  up  to  1890,  we  had  only  been  able  to  produce 
about  one-tenth  of  the  amount  needed  for  our  con- 
sumption. These  duties  were,  therefore,  levied  under 
the  theory  of  a  tariff  for  revenue  only.  The  Fifty-first 
Congress  was  a  protective  Congress,  and,  not  believing 
in  a  tariff  for  revenue  only,  wisely  repealed  the  old 
law,  and  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the 
country  sugar  came  free  to  the  people.  This  has 
resulted  in  a  direct  saving  to  the  American  people 
of  over  $200,000,000,  less  $16,717,726  paid  for  bounty 
and  $11,000,000  estimated  to  be  due  to  the  pro- 
ducers for  this  year,  which  would  aggregate  $27,- 
717,000,  being  a  direct  saving  of  over  $1.25  per  year 
for  each  person  in  the  United  States.  In  harmony 
with  the  doctrine  of  protection,  the  Fifty-first  Con- 
gress deemed  it  their  duty  to  give  protection  to  the 
growers  of  cane,  beet,  and  sorghum  sugar  by  way  of 
a  bounty.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  we  have  a  vast 
area  of  country,  especially  adapted  to  the  growth  of 
sugar,  and  believing  that  it  was  a  sound  policy  to 
make  the  American  people  self-sustaining  in  an  arti- 
cle the  annual  consumption  of  which  was  constantly  in- 
creasing, and  which  requires  an  annual  expenditure  of 
about  $115,000,000,  nearly  all  of  which  is  paid  to 


OF  HENEY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  215 

foreign  labor,  Congress  wisely  provided,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  minority,  that  the  grower  of  cane,  beets,  and  sor- 
ghum sugar  should  be  paid  a  small  bounty,  to  run  until 
1905,  and  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  this  law  a  con- 
tinuing appropriation  was  made  to  pay  the  bounty. 
The  bill  of  the  majority  proposes  to  reduce  the  amount 
of  bounty  allowed  by  existing  law,  beginning  July  1, 
1895,  at  the  rate  of  one-eighth  of  a  cent  per  pound  per 
year,  and  that  on  July  1,  1902,  said  bounty  shall 
<  cease  and  determine.7  The  policy  of  paying  bounties, 
directly  or  indirectly,  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging 
certain  industries,  is  as  old  as  the  Government  itself, 
and  has  been  recognized  in  the  statutes  of  both  State 
and  Nation  since  1789.  This  policy  has  been  vali- 
dated by  the  highest  courts  of  our  country. 

"  The  majority  have  made  a  general  reduction  on 
agricultural  products  and  have  made  use  in  many  in- 
stances of  the  vicious  ad  valorem  rate.  This  gives 
peculiar  satisfaction  to  the  Canadian  farmers  and  Ber- 
muda members  of  Parliament,  because  it  enables  them 
to  come  into  our  markets  on  more  than  equal  terms.  A 
recent  investigation  develops  the  fact  that  our  farms 
and  farm  labor  cost  one-third  more  than  the  correspond- 
ing farms  and  farm  labor  in  Canada.  So,  lest  the  Cana- 
dian farmer  should  be  outstripped  in  the  race  for  our 
market,  this  bill  fixes  the  duties  on  his  farm  products  at 
a  rate  less  than  20  per  cent.,  and  gives  him  an  advantage 
of  13-^  per  cent,  over  our  own  citizens.  In  addition  to 
this,  with  all  kinds  of  manufactured  lumber  on  the  free 
list,  it  is  no  wonder  that  Canadian  statesmen  are  boast- 
ing that  they  get  more  by  this  bill  than  they  could 
liope  to  get  by  the  most  favorable  reciprocity  treaty, 


216  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

and  this  without  the  surrender  of  a  single  advantage  on 
their  part.  The  competition  which  necessarily  exists 
between  our  millions  of  farmers  will  always  regulate 
the  price  of  farm  products  in  this  country  so  that  they 
will  bring  no  more  than  a  fair  return.  Why,  then,  open 
our  markets  to  Canada  and  deprive  our  own  citizens  of 
them  without  forcing  the  Canadians  to  pay  at  least  the 
difference  in  cost  of  production  into  the  Treasury  ?  One 
of  the  proofs  of  unselfishness  on  the  part  of  the  Com- 
mittee is  illustrated  in  a  duty  equal  to  seventy-one  per 
cent,  on  rice,  a  Southern  product,  as  against  an  average 
of  less  than  twenty  per  cent,  on  the  products  of  North- 
ern farms.  In  exchange  for  this  and  for  free  wool  the 
farmer's  machinery  and  binding  twine  are  put  on  the 
free  list.  Under  the  competition  encouraged  by  protec- 
tion the  farmer's  machinery  has  been  cheapened  to  a 
third  of  its  former  cost.  To  give  the  Canadian  manu- 
facturer an  equal  footing  may  possibly  produce  a  slight 
reduction  in  the  cost,  but  would  only  result  in  driving 
out  the  small  manufacturers;  the  survivors  would  be 
compelled  to  form  combines  and  trusts  to  continue  in 
business.  In  binding  twine  the  result  would  send  the 
business  to  Calcutta,  Hong  Kong  and  Dundee ;  the  pro* 
duct  would  be  cheaper  for  a  time,  but  in  the  end  the 
importer  would  get  the  profits  and  the  farmer  will  have 
to  pay  the  same,  or  more,  after  domestic  competition 
is  destroyed.  Salt  is  a  finished  product.  Nearly  the 
total  cost  of  its  production  is  human  labor.  In  the 
Wyoming  district,  in  New  York,  it  furnishes  employ- 
ment to  five  thousand  people ;  in  Syracuse  and  in 
Michigan  to  many  more.  The  freight  on  salt  from 
Liverpool  to  New  York  for  two  years  past  has  ranged 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  217 

between  thirty-six  cents  and  one  dollar  per  long  ton,  the 
average  not  being  more  than  60  cents.  From  the  Wyo- 
ming district  the  rate  is  $2.24  per  long  ton  to  New 
York.  Under  the  present  duty  of  eight  cents  per 
hundred  pounds  the  importation  in  1893  was  140,000 
tons  and  paid  a  revenue  of  $301,972.60.  To  get  this 
trade  the  English  merchant  made  a  discount  on  salt  for 
America  nearly  equal  to  one-half  the  duty.  He  sells  for 
shipment  here  at  a  less  price  than  to  any  English 
province.  Salt  is  produced  in  such  quantities  and  in 
such  universal  competition  here  that  the  cost  to  the 
consumer  has  declined  at  the  factory  from  $4  per  bar- 
rel to  40  cents  for  the  same  article.  To  find  a  market 
here  the  English  producer  and  the  English  ocean  carrier 
must  and  do  pay  the  entire  tariff.  Free  salt  means  the 
surrender  to  England  of  our  Eastern  markets,  to  Canada 
of  our  Northern  trade.  With  free  salt  the  Liverpool 
merchant  will  supply  the  retail  merchant  at  a  price  just 
below  the  cost  to  the  Wyoming  manufacturer.  The 
consumer  will  doubtless  pay  about  the  same  as  now,  and 
the  difference  between  the  cost  abroad  and  the  cost  here 
will  be  divided  between  the  foreign  producer,  the  ocean 
carrier,  the  single  distributing  agent  in  New  York  (who 
now  gets  a  profit  on  every  pound  of  salt  shipped  from 
Liverpool  to  the  United  States  or  Canada)  and  the 
American  retailer,  while  the  Government  loses  the 
revenue.  The  American  workman  must  seek  some  other 
employment  or  accept  a  large  reduction  in  his  wages. 
There  is  no  excuse  for  putting  this  finished  product  on 
the  free  list.  It  is  unjust  to  the  American  workman, 
the  consumer,  and  the  Government." 

"The  wool  schedule  as  proposed  in  the  Committee's 


218  THE  TAKIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

bill  is  in  some  respects  most  reprehensible.  It  proposes 
to  destroy  at  a  blow  the  great  industry  of  wool-growing, 
which  now  ranks  as  seventh  in  the  value  of  its  products 
among  the  several  branches  of  American  agriculture, 
and  which  has  heretofore  been  recognized  as  an  agri- 
cultural product  deserving  and  requiring  protection, 
under  every  Administration  and  by  every  tariff  act  since 
that  of  May  22,  1824.  Nothing  short  of  the  total 
destruction  of  this  important  industry  can  be  counted 
upon,  as  the  consequence  of  placing  both  wool  and 
mutton  on  the  free  list. 

"The  bill  deals  with  the  wool  manufacture  in  terms 
scarcely  less  radical  than  those  accorded  the  wool- 
growing  industry,  upon  which  it  so  largely  depends. 
It  proposes  to  revolutionize  the  manufacture  of  woolen 
goods  by  transferring  it  from  the  basis  of  dutiable 
materials  to  free  wool,  a  change  more  radical  than  any 
textile  industry  in  any  country  was  ever  forced  to  make, 
without  the  most  careful  provision  for  a  safe  and  gradual 
readjustment.  Ignoring  this  feature  of  the  situation, 
the  majority  would  compel  our  wool  manufacturers  to 
make  this  leap  in  the  dark,  divested  of  the  safeguard  of 
specific  duties  and  subjected  to  lower  ad  valorems  than 
will  offset  the  difference  in  cost  of  production.  We 
have  secured  in  the  United  States  a  magnificent  wool 
manufacturing  industry,  in  which  over  $300,000,000  are 
invested,  making  every  variety  of  woolen  goods  and 
employing  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million  operatives. 
This  industry  the  majority  offers  up  as  a  sacrifice  on  the 
altar  of  tariff  reform. 

"Contemplated  legislation,  which  imperils  over  $300,- 
000,000  of  capital  invested  in  a  particular  industry,  and 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  219 

involves  the  fortunes  or  the  occupations  of  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  its  citizens,  demands  special  provisions  to 
render  such  a  transition  as  safe,  gradual,  and  easy  as 
possible.  This  bill  proposes  to  compel  our  wool  manu- 
facturers to  accomplish  the  transformation  in  one  month 
— that  being  the  brief  interval  allowed — after  wool 
becomes  free,  before  the  duties  compensatory  for  the 
wool  duties  are  removed  from  woolen  goods.  These 
manufacturers  are  expected  to  accomplish  in  one  month 
what  their  foreign  competitors  have  been  generations  in 
learning.  Many  of  our  best  manufacturers  will  not 
attempt  the  feat  thus  forced  upon  them.  Realizing  the 
animus  that  underlies  such  legislation,  so  suggestive  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  they  will  close  their  mills,  pocket  their 
losses,  and  retire.  They  may  truly  say  that  the  property 
they  invested,  which  gave  employment  to  thousands 
of  our  people  at  generous  wages,  which  built  up 
prosperous  towns  on  every  water  power  in  the  Eastern 
and  Middle  States,  which  added  to  the  Nation's 
wealth  by  increasing  the  earning  and  the  consuming 
capacity  of  its  people,  has  been  wantonly  confiscated  by 
act  of  the  Fifty-third  Congress.  The  terms  of  the  bill 
are  equivalent  to  an  edict  from  the  committee  command- 
ing every  woolen  manufacturer  to  shut  down  and  keep 
shut  down  until  the  bill  becomes  a  law,  and  turning 
thousands  of  operatives  into  the  street.  The  bill  has 
been  carefully  devised,  apparently,  for  the  purpose  of 
crippling  the  domestic  manufacturer  in  advance  of  a 
new  tariff  so  that  he  will  be  left  bruised  and  broken 
when  the  time  arrives  for  him  to  begin  competition  for 
this  market  under  duties  from  sixty  to  seventy-five  per 
cent,  less  than  at  present.  The  punishment  meted  out 


220  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

to  our  woolen  manufacturers  for  daring  to  invest  their 
capital  in  this  useful  and  important  industry  is  severe 
and  condign.  In  order  that  there  shall  be  no  mistake 
about  the  purpose  to  destroy  the  industry,  the  majority 
further  provides  that  the  punishment  shall  be  extended 
over  the  next  five  years,  during  which  the  meagre  pro- 
tection allowed  them  is  to  further  melt  away  at  the  rate 
of  one  per  cent,  a  year.  No  such  provision  is  found  in 
any  other  schedule  ;  no  other  class  of  duties  has  been 
reduced  so  sharply  as  these  ;  no  other  industry  subjected 
to  a  complete  reversal  of  economic  conditions.  The  pur- 
pose of  the  framers  of  this  schedule  is  a  purpose  to 
destroy. 

"  One  of  the  most  amazing  propositions  of  the  bill  is 
that  bituminous  coal  shall  be  put  upon  the  free  list,  and 
the  million  of  dollars  per  annum  that  we  receive  from 
its  importation  by  way  of  revenue  absolutely  thrown 
away.  Coal  has  little  value  save  as  it  gets  it  from  labor. 
It  is  worth  almost  nothing  in  the  hill ;  would  be  worth 
absolutely  nothing  were  it  not  for  the  prospect  of  being 
mined.  It  is  not  a  raw  material,  for  it  is  not  worked 
into  any  further  shape,  but  is  consumed  and  done  for  at 
once.  Call  it  raw  material  in  the  hill,  if  you  please  ;  it 
then  cuts  no  figure  in  a  tariff  bill.  Except  for  a  short 
period,  it  has  always  borne  a  duty.  Under  the  revenue 
tariff  of  1846  it  bore  a  duty  of  thirty  per  cent,  ad 
valorem.  No  change  has  been  made  in  the  duty  on  it 
since  1872.  The  Mills  bill  provided  the  same  rate  as 
the  present  law — seventy-five  cents  per  ton.  Now  it  is 
proposed  to  make  it  free.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  why. 
It  is  the  most  universally  prevalent  of  all  the  subjects  of 
American  industry.  There  are  few  States  or  Territories 


OF  HENBY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  221 

that  an  inference  with  it  will  not  affect.  It  appears  that 
on  every  side  peculiar  facilities  are  afforded  to  foreigners 
to  seize  our  coal  trade  if  the  duty  on  coal  be  stricken 
down.  And  this  simply  by  reason  of  the  difference  be- 
tween foreign  wage  rates  and  our  own.  The  difference 
in  cost  to  the  consumer  from  the  removal  of  the  duty 
would  be  slight  in  the  first  instance ;  the  loss  to  Ameri- 
can labor  and  American  capital  would  be  incalculable, 
and  the  loss  to  the  whole  people  in  the  last  analysis  be- 
yond measure.  To  put  coal  on  the  free  list  is  without 
reason  and  against  reason,  and  finds  no  semblance  of 
defence  save  in  the  unjustifiable  desire  to  exploit  a 
theory  at  the  expense  of  the  American  people." 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  bill  as  originally  in- 
troduced provided  for  free  raw  sugar,  free  wool,  free 
coal,  free  lumber  and  free  iron  ore,  and  reduced  the 
duties  very  materially  on  a  great  many  articles.  Its 
discussion  was  begun  in  Committee  of  the  Whole, 
on  January  15,  1894,  and  on  January  24th,  a 
measure  providing  an  income  tax  was  presented  to 
the  House,  and  this,  with  certain  internal  revenue 
features,  were  incorporated  in  the  pending  bill  by  a  vote 
of  182  to  48.  The  bill  was  passed  by  the  House  on 
February  1st,  yeas  204,  nays  140,  not  voting  eight,  four 
Democrats  and  four  Kepublicans.  Of  those  voting  in 
the  affirmative  all  were  Democrats,  but  ten  Populists ; 
of  those  in  the  negative  all  were  Republicans,  but  four- 
teen Democrats.  The  members  from  New  England  cast 
six  votes  for  the  bill  and  nineteen  against  it ;  those  from 
the  Middle  States,  yeas,  32,  nays  34;  from  the  Western 
and  Northwestern  States,  yeas  68,  nays  59  ;  from  the 
Southern  and  Southwestern,  yeas  92,  nays  8  ;  and  from 
the  Pacific  States,  yeas  6,  nays  10. 


222  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

The  bill  as  amended  was  reported  from  the  Com- 
mittee on  Finance  on  March  20th,  and  occupied  the 
attention  of  the  Senate  almost  constantly  until  its  final 
adjournment  on  August  17th.  A  multitude  of  amend- 
ments— some  634  in  all — were  proposed  by  the  Com- 
mittee and  ultimately  adopted  by  the  Senate,  the  chief 
of  which  were  the  duties  on  sugar,  coal  and  iron  ore, 
and  the  substitution  of  specific  for  ad  valorem  duties,  so 
completely  changing  the  character  of  the  measure  as  to 
render  it  practically  a  new  bill. 

The  sugar  schedule  was  the  most  important  revenue 
feature  of  the  measure.  It  carried  with  it  the  abroga- 
tion of  the  reciprocity  treaties  of  the  Harrison  adminis- 
tration, and  the  abolition  of  the  sugar  bounty  of  the 
tariff  act  of  1890,  but  the  treaty  with  Hawaii  was  left 
in  full  force.  Next  to  it  the  income  tax  provoked  the 
greatest  opposition ;  Senator  Hill  of  New  York  did  all 
in  his  power  to  strike  this  provision  from  the  bill,  but 
his  motion  to  that  effect,  on  June  28th,  failed  by  a  vote 
of  24  to  40.  An  amendment  offered  by  Senator  Man- 
derson,  of  Nebraska,  on  July  2nd,  continuing  the  sugar 
bounty  in  force  was  defeated  by  a  vote  of  33  to  37,  and 
an  amendment  by  Senator  Peffer,  of  Kansas,  making 
sugar  free  was  also  lost — yeas  33,  nays  39.  Both  pro- 
positions were  in  the  main  supported  by  the  Republicans 
and  opposed  by  the  Democrats.  The  amended  bill,  or 
substitute  was  passed  by  the  Senate,  on  July  3rd,  yeas, 
39,  all  Democrats,  but  two  Populists ;  nays  34,  all  Re- 
publicans except  three,  one  Democrat  and  two  Populists. 

A  conference  with  the  House  on  its  amendments  was 
asked  by  the  Senate,  and  Messrs.  Voorhees,  Harris.  Vest, 
Jones,  of  Arkansas,  Sherman,  Allison  and  Aldrich  were 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  223 

named  as  its  conferees.  The  House,  on  July  7th,  per- 
emptorily refused  to  accept  the  Senate  amendments,  by 
a  unanimous  vote,  and  appointed  as  its  conferees,  Messrs. 
"Wilson,  of  West  Virginia,  McMillin,  Turner,  of  Georgia, 
Montgomery,  Reed,  Burrows  and  Payne.  A  long  and 
bitter  contest  was  expected,  and  to  add  to  the  perplex- 
ities of  the  situation,  Mr.  Wilson,  Chairman  of  the  Ways 
and  Means  Committee,  in  a  speech  to  the  House,  on 
July  7th,  gave  to  Congress  and  the  country  the  follow- 
ing personal  letter  from  President  Cleveland,  strongly 
opposing  the  passage  of  the  Senate  bill : 

"  The  certainty  that  a  conference  will  be  ordered  be- 
tween the  two  houses  of  Congress  for  the  purpose*  of 
adjusting  differences  on  the  subject  of  tariff  legislation," 
said  Mr.  Cleveland,  "  makes  it  also  certain  that  you  will 
be  again  called  on  to  do  hard  service  in  the  cause  of 
tariff  reform.  My  public  life  has  been  so  closely  related 
to  the  subject,  I  have  so  longed  for  its  accomplishment, 
and  I  have  so  often  promised  its  realization  to  my 
fellow-countrymen  as  a  result  of  their  trust  and  con- 
fidence in  the  Democratic  party,  that  I  hope  no  excuse 
is  necessary  for  my  earnest  appeal  to  you  that  in  this  crisis 
you  strenuously  insist  upon  party  honesty  and  good 
faith  and  a  steady  adherence  to  Democratic  principles. 
I  believe  these  are  absolutely  necessary  conditions  to 
the  continuation  of  Democratic  existence.  I  can  not  rid 
myself  of  the  feeling  that  this  conference  will  present 
the  best,  if  not  the  only  hope  of  true  Democracy.  In- 
dications point  to  its  action  as  the  reliance  of  those  who 
desire  the  genuine  fruition  of  Democratic  effort,  the 
fulfillment  of  Democratic  pledges,  and  the  redemption 
of  Democratic  promises  to  the  people.  To  reconcile 


224  THE  TAEIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

differences  in  the  details  comprised  within  the  fixed  and 
well-defined  lines  of  principle  will  not  be  the  sole  task 
of  the  conference  ;  but,  as  it  seems  to  me,  its  members 
will  also  have  in  charge  the  question  whether  Democratic 
principles  themselves  are  to  be  saved  or  abandoned. 
There  is  no  excuse  for  mistaking  or  misapprehending 
the  feeling  and  temper  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  De- 
mocracy. They  are  downcast  under  the  assertion  that 
their  party  fails  in  ability  to  manage  the  Government, 
and  they  are  apprehensive  that  efforts  to  bring  about 
tariff  reform  may  fail ;  but  they  are  much  more  down- 
cast and  apprehensive  in  their  fear  that  Democratic 
principles  may  be  surrendered.  In  these  circumstances 
they  can  not  do  otherwise  than  to  look  with  confidence 
to  you  and  those  who  with  you  have  patriotically  and 
sincerely  championed  the  cause  of  tariff  reform  within 
Democratic  lines  and  guided  by  Democratic  principles. 
This  confidence  is  vastly  augmented  by  the  action  under 
your  leadership  of  the  House  of  Representatives  upon 
the  bill  now  pending.  Every  true  Democrat  and  every 
sincere  tariff  reformer  knows  that  this  bill  in  its  present 
form,  and  as  it  will  be  submitted  to  the  conference,  falls 
far  short  of  the  consummation  for  which  we  have  long 
labored  ;  for  which  we  have  suffered  defeat  without  dis- 
couragement; which  in  its  anticipation  gave  us  a  rally- 
ing cry  in  our  day  of  triumph  ;  and  which,  in  its  promise 
of  accomplishment,  is  so  interwoven  with  Democratic 
pledges  and  Democratic  success,  that  our  abandonment 
of  the  cause,  or  the  principles  upon  which  it  rests,  means 
party  perfidy  and  party  dishonor.  One  topic  will  be 
submitted  to  the  conference  which  embodies  Democratic 
principles  so  directly  that  it  can  not  be  compromised. 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  225 

We  have  in  our  platform  in  every  way  possible  de- 
clared in  favor  of  the  free  importation  of  raw  materials. 
We  have  again  and  again  promised  that  this  should  be 
accorded  to  our  people  and  our  manufacturers  as  soon 
as  the  Democratic  party  was  invested  with  the  power  to 
determine  the  tariff  policy  of  the  country.  The  party 
now  has  that  power.  We  are  as  certain  to-day  as  we 
have  ever  been  of  the  great  benefit  that  would  accrue 
to  the  country  from  the  inauguration  of  this  policy,  and 
nothing  has  occurred  to  release  us  from  our  obligations 
to  secure  this  advantage  to  our  people.  It  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  no  tariff  measure  can  accord  with  Demo- 
cratic principles  and  promises,  or  bear  a  genuine  Demo- 
cratic badge,  that  does  not  provide  for  free  raw  materials. 
In  these  circumstances  it  may  well  excite  our  wonder 
that  Democrats  are  willing  to  depart  from  this,  the  most 
Democratic  of  all  tariff  principles,  and  that  the  incon- 
sistent absurdity  of  such  a  proposed  departure  should 
be  emphasized  by  the  suggestion  that  the  wool  of  the 
farmer  be  put  on  the  free  list,  and  the  protection  of  tariff 
taxation  be  placed  around  the  iron  ore  and  coal  of  cor- 
porations and  capitalists.  How  can  we  face  the  people 
after  indulging  in  such  outrageous  discriminations  and 
violations  of  principle?  It  is  quite  apparent  that  this 
question  of  free  raw  materials  does  not  admit  of  adjust- 
ment on  any  middle  ground,  since  their  subjection  to 
any  rate  of  tariff  taxation,  great  or  small,  is  alike  viola- 
tive  of  Democratic  principle  and  Democratic  good  faith. 
I  hope  you  will  not  consider  it  intrusive  if  I  say  some- 
thing in  relation  to  another  subject  which  can  hardly 
fail  to  be  troublesome  to  the  conference.  I  refer  to  the 
adjustment  of  tariff  taxation  on  sugar.  Under  our  party 


226  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

platform  and  in  accordance  with  our  declared  party 
purposes  sugar  is  a  legitimate  and  logical  article  of  rev- 
enue taxation.  Unfortunately,  however,  incidents  have 
accompanied  certain  stages  of  the  legislation  which  will 
be  submitted  to  the  conference  that  have  aroused  in 
connection  with  this  subject  a  natural  Democratic  ani- 
mosity to  the  methods  and  manipulations  of  trusts  and 
combinations.  I  confess  to  sharing  in  this  feeling ;  and 
yet  it  seems  to  me  we  ought,  if  possible,  to  sufficiently 
free  ourselves  from  prejudice  to  enable  us  coolly  to 
weigh  the  considerations  which,  in  formulating  tariff 
legislation,  ought  to  guide  our  treatment  of  sugar  as  a 
taxable  article.  While  no  tenderness  should  be  enter- 
tained for  trusts,  and  while  I  am  decidedly  opposed  to 
granting  them,  under  the  guise  of  tariff  taxation,  any 
opportunity  to  further  their  peculiar  methods,  I  suggest 
that  we  ought  not  to  be  driven  away  from  the  Demo- 
cratic principle  and  policy  which  lead  to  the  taxation  of 
sugar  by  the  fear,  quite  likely  exaggerated,  that  in  car- 
rying out  this  principle  and  policy  we  may  indirectly 
and  inordinately  encourage  a  combination  of  sugar- 
refining  interests.  I  know  that  in  present  conditions 
this  is  a  delicate  subject,  and  I  appreciate  the  depth  and 
strength  of  the  feeling  which  its  treatment  has  aroused. 
I  do  not  believe  that  we  should  do  evil  that  good  may 
come,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  we  should  not  forget  that 
our  aim  is  the  completion  of  a  tariff  bill,  and  that  in 
taxing  sugar  for  proper  purposes  and  within  reasona- 
ble bounds,  whatever  else  may  be  said  of  our  action, 
we  are  in  no  danger  of  running  counter  to  Democratic 
principle.  With  all  there  is  at  stake  there  must  be  in 
the  treatment  of  this  article  some  ground  upon  which 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  227 

we  are  willing  to  stand,  where  toleration  and  concilia- 
tion may  be  allowed  to  solve  the  problem  without 
demanding  the  entire  surrender  of  fixed  and  conscien- 
tious convictions.  I  ought  not  to  prolong  this  letter. 
If  what  I  have  written  is  unwelcome,  I  beg  you  to 
believe  in  my  good  intentions.  In  the  conclusions  of 
the  conference  touching  the  numerous  items  which  will 
be  considered,  the  people  are  not  afraid  that  their 
interests  will  be  neglected.  They  know  that  the 
general  result,  so  far  as  these  are  concerned,  will  be  to 
place  home  necessaries  and  comforts  easier  within  their 
reach,  and  to  insure  better  and  surer  compensation  to 
those  who  toil.  We  all  know  that  a  tariff  covering  all 
the  varied  interests  and  conditions  of  a  country  as  vast 
as  ours  must  of  necessity  be  largely  the  result  of 
honorable  adjustment  and  compromise.  I  expect  very 
few  of  us  can  say,  when  our  measure  is  perfected,  that 
all  the  features  are  entirely  as  we  would  prefer.  You 
know  how  much  I  deprecated  the  incorporation  in  the 
proposed  bill  of  the  income  tax  feature.  In  matters  of 
this  kind,  however,  which  do  not  violate  a  fixed  and 
recognized  Democratic  doctrine,  we  are  willing  to  defer 
to  the  judgment  of  a  majority  of  our  Democratic 
brethren.  I  think  there  is  a  general  agreement  that 
this  is  party  duty.  This  is  more  palpably  apparent 
when  we  realize  that  the  business  of  our  country 
timidly  stands  and  watches  for  the  result  of  our  efforts 
to  perfect  tariff  legislation,  that  a  quick  and  certain  re- 
turn of  prosperity  waits  upon  a  wise  adjustment,  and 
that  a  confiding  people  still  trust  in  our  hands  their 
prosperity  and  well-being.  The  Democracy  of  the  land 
plead  most  earnestly  for  the  speedy  completion  of  the 


228  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

tariff  legislation  which  their  representatives  have  under- 
taken, but  they  demand  not  less  earnestly  that  no 
stress  of  necessity  shall  tempt  those  they  trust  to  the 
abandonment  of  Democratic  principles." 

Astonishing  and  unprecedented  in  the  annals  of  legis- 
lation though  it  may  have  seemed  to  many  of  its  hear- 
ers, the  President's  letter  was  nevertheless  received 
with  great  applause  by  the  Democrats  of  the  House, 
and  with  cheers  and  laughter  by  the  Republicans,  and 
such  may  be  said  generally  of  its  reception  by  the  two 
parties  throughout  the  country.  It  served,  however,  to 
intensify  the  feeling  in  the  Senate  against  the  original 
House  bill,  and  every  effort  in  that  body  to  recede  from 
its  amendments  proved  unavailing.  Caucuses  were  held 
by  the  Democratic  members  of  the  two  houses  on  Au- 
gust 7th  and  13th,  at  the  first  of  which  no  definite 
action  was  taken,  but  at  the  latter  it  was  agreed  by  a 
vote  of  130  to  21  to  concur  in  the  Senate  amendments 
without  change  or  exception,  thus  passing  the  Senajbe 
tariff  bill,  and  then  to  pass  for  the  Senate's  considera- 
tion four  separate  bills  placing  sugar,  coal,  iron,  and 
barbed  wire  on  the  free  list.  These  were  derisively 
styled  by  the  press  as  "  popgun  bills,"  and  their  pas- 
sage was  never  expected,  even  by  their  authors. 
Still  the  programme  was  faithfully  followed.  The 
House  agreed  to  recede  from  its  disagreement  to 
the  Senate  amendments,  on  August  13th,  by  a  vote 
of  182  to  106.  Seven  Populists  united  with  the  ma- 
jority party  in  the  affirmative,  and  twelve  Demo- 
crats voted  with  the  Republicans  in  the  negative. 
The  four  separate  bills  providing  for  free  coal, 
free  iron  ore,  free  barbed  wire  fencing,  and  free 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  229 

sugar,  were  then  introduced  by  Mr.  Wilson  in  the 
order  named,  and  all  passed  by  the  House,  that  for  free 
sugar  practically  without  opposition,  and  the  others  by 
the  requisite  vote.  In  the  Senate  all  were  referred  to 
the  Committee  on  Finance  on  August  17th,  by  a  test 
vote  of  32  to  17,  eleven  Democrats  and  three  Populists 
voting  with  the  Republicans  for  such  reference.  Dur- 
ing the  debate  on  this  motion  a  letter  was  read  from 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  stating  that  if  sugar  was 
placed  on  the  free  list  the  expenditures  for  the  next 
fiscal  year  would  exceed  the  revenues  by  $27,478,058, 
and  if  all  four  bills  were  passed  the  deficiency  would  be 
$29,478,058.  We  shall  see  that  although  none  of  them 
were  enacted  the  deficit  was  nevertheless  still  greater 
than  here  estimated. 

As  was  naturally  to  be  expected  under  circumstances 
so  extraordinary,  President  Cleveland  did  not  sign  the 
Senate  substitute  for  the  so-called  Wilson  bill.  He  did 
not,  as  might  be  supposed,  veto  the  bill  outright,  but 
permitted  it  to  become  a  law  by  lapse  of  time,  on  Au- 
gust 27th,  the  day  before  Congress  adjourned,  content- 
ing himself  with  the  following  explanation  of  his 
course,  in  a  letter  from  the  Executive  Mansion,  of  that 
date,  to  Representative  Catchings,  of  Mississippi : 

"Since  the  conversation  I  had  with  you  and  Mr. 
Clark,  of  Alabama,  a  few  days  ago,  in  regard  to  my  ac- 
tion upon  the  tariff  bill  now  before  me,  I  have  given  the 
subject  further  and  more  serious  consideration.  The 
result  is,  I  am  more  settled  than  ever  in  the  determina- 
tion to  allow  the  bill  to  become  a  law  without  my 
signature.  When  the  formulation  of  legislation  which 
it  was  hoped  would  embody  Democratic  ideas  of  tariff 


230  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

reform  was  lately  entered  upon  by  Congress,  nothing 
was  further  from  my  anticipation  than  a  result  which  I 
could  not  promptly  and  enthusiastically  endorse.  It  is 
therefore  with  a  feeling  of  the  utmost  disappointment 
that  I  submit  to  a  denial  of  this  privilege.  I  do  not 
claim  to  be  better  than  the  masses  of  my  party,  nor  do  I 
wish  to  avoid  any  responsibility  which,  on  account  of 
the  passage  of  this  law,  I  ought  to  bear  as  a  member  of 
the  Democratic  organization.  Neither  will  I  permit  my- 
self to  be  separated  from  my  party  to  such  an  extent  as 
might  be  implied  by  a  veto  of  the  tariff  legislation, 
which,  though  disappointing,  is  still  chargeable  to 
Democratic  efforts.  But  there  are  provisions  in  the  bill 
which  are  not  in  line  with  honest  tariff  reform,  and  it 
contains  inconsistencies  and  crudities  which  ought  not 
to  appear  in  tariff  laws  or  laws  of  any  kind.  Besides, 
there  were,  as  you  and  I  well  know,  incidents  accom- 
panying the  passage  of  the  bill  through  Congress  which 
made  every  sincere  tariff  reformer  unhappy  while  in- 
fluences surrounded  it  in  its  later  stages,  and  interfered 
with  its  final  construction,  which  ought  not  to  be  recog- 
nized or  tolerated  in  Democratic  tariff  reform.  And  yet, 
notwithstanding  all  its  vicissitudes  and  all  the  bad  treat- 
ment it  received  at  the  hands  of  pretended  friends,  it 
presents  a  vast  improvement  to  existing  conditions.  It 
will  certainly  lighten  many  tariff  burdens  that  now  rest 
heavily  upon  the  people.  It  is  not  only  a  barrier  against 
the  return  of  mad  protection,  but  it  furnishes  a  vantage 
ground  from  which  must  be  waged  further  aggressive 
operations  against  protected  monopolies  and  govern- 
mental favoritism.  I  take  my  place  with  the  rank  and 
file  of  the  Democratic  party  who  believe  in  tariff  reform 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  231 

and  who  know  what  it  is,  who  refuse  to  accept  the  re- 
sult embodied  in  this  bill  as  the  close  of  the  war,  who 
are  not  blinded  to  the  fact  that  the  livery  of  Democratic 
reform  has  been  stolen  and  worn  in  the  service  of  Re- 
publican protection,  and  who  have  marked  the  places 
where  the  deadly  blight  of  treason  has  blasted  the 
counsels  of  the  brave  in  their  hour  of  might.  The 
trusts  and  combinations,  the  communism  of  pelf,  whose 
machinations  have  prevented  us  from  reaching  the  suc- 
cess we  deserved,  should  not  be  forgotten  nor  forgiven.- 
"We  shall  recover  from  our  astonishment  at  their  ex- 
hibition of  power,  and  if  then  the  question  is  forced 
upon  us  whether  they  shall  submit  to  the  free  legisla- 
tive will  of  the  peoples'  representatives,  or  shall  dic- 
tate the  laws  which  the  people  must  obey,  we  will 
accept  and  settle  that  issue  as  one  involving  the  in- 
tegrity and  safety  of  American  institutions. 

The  millions  of  our  countrymen  who  have 
fought  bravely  and  well  for  tariff  reform  should  be 
exhorted  to  continue  the  struggle,  boldly  challenging 
to  open  warfare  and  constantly  guarding  against 
treachery  and  half-heartedness  in  their  camp.  Tariff 
reform  will  not  be  settled  until  it  is  honestly  and  fairly 
settled  in  the  interests  and  to  the  benefit  of  a  patient 
and  long-suffering  people." 

But  the  people  were  no  longer  to  be  deceived ;  their 
patience  was  in  truth  exhausted  with  pleas  for  a  "  re- 
form "  that  brought  only  distress  to  the  business 
interests  of  the  country,  that  deranged  our  finances,  and 
instead  of  abundant  revenue,  brought  nothing  but 
deficiencies  to  the  Government.  The  result  of  the 
November  elections  proved  this  conclusively,  for  never 


232  THE  TAKIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

in  the  history  of  the  United  States,  in  any  Con- 
gressional election,  was  the  party  and  doctrine  of  pro- 
tection so  overwhelmingly  endorsed.  The  Democratic 
majority  of  ninety-four  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
in  the  Fifty-third  Congress  was  changed  to  a  Re- 
publican majority  of  one  hundred  and  forty  in  the 
Fifty-fourth  Congress.  Not  only  was  the  victory 
sweeping  and  decisive  in  the  North,  or  in  States 
usually  Republican,  but  for  the  first  time  in  many 
years,  more  Republicans  were  elected  from  the  South 
than  Democratic  members  were  returned  from  the 
North,  including  even  the  strongholds  of  that  party  in 
the  great  cities.  The  Senate,  too,  was  partly  recovered, 
the  Republican  membership  having  been  increased  by 
gains  in  legislative  elections  from  thirty-six  to  forty- 
three  in  a  total  of  eighty-eight.  The  Republican  major- 
ities were  everywhere  phenomenal,  and  nowhere  larger 
than  in  the  great  States  of  New  York,  Illinois  and 
Indiana,  which  in  1892  had  given  their  electoral  votes 
for  the  Democratic  ticket. 

The  income  tax  feature  of  the  new  law  was  at  once 
attacked  by  eminent  lawyers  on  the  ground  of  un- 
constitutionality.  It  provided  that  "  there  shall  be 
assessed,  levied,  collected,  and  paid  annually  upon  the 
gains,  profits  and  incomes  received  in  the  preceding 
calendar  year  by  every  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
whether  residing  at  home  or  abroad,  and  every  person 
residing  therein,  whether  said  gains,  profits  or  income 
be  derived  from  any  kind  of  property,  rents,  interest, 
dividends,  or  salaries,  or  from  any  profession,  trade,  em- 
ployment or  vocation  carried  on  in  the  United  States  or 
elsewhere,  or  from  any  source  whatever,  a  tax  of  two 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  233 

per  cent,  on  the  amount  so  derived,  over  and  above 
$4,000,  and  a  like  tax  shall  be  levied,  collected  and 
paid  annually  upon  the  gains,  profits,  and  increase  from 
all   property  owned,   and   of  every  business,   trade  or 
profession  carried  on  in  the  United  States  by  persons 
residing   without   the   United   States."     It  was  to  go 
into  effect  on  January  1,  1895,  and  to  continue  in  force 
until  January   1,  1900.     On  February  13,  1895,  Con- 
gress extended  the  time  of  making  the  returns,  in  that 
year   only,    until   April    15th,  and  fixed   certain  new 
exemptions  or  deductions  in  computing  incomes.  But  on 
March   13th,  a  suit  was  begun  in  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  to  test    the    constitutionality    of    the 
income  tax,  and   arguments  for   and   against   it  were 
made    by    Messrs.    George    F.    Edmunds,   Joseph  H. 
Choate,  James  C.  Carter,  and  Attorney  General  Olney. 
On  April   7th   the  Court  handed   down   its  decision, 
unanimously  concurring  that  direct  taxes  ought  not  to 
be  levied  by  the  General  Government  except  under  the 
pressure  of  extraordinary   exigency;    that    such   had 
always  been  the  practice  down  to  August  15,  1894; 
that  so  much  of  the  new  act  as  attempted  to  impose  a 
tax  upon  the   rent   or  income  of  real  estate  without 
apportionment  was  invalid ;  that  the  tax  upon  the  in- 
come derived  from  municipal  bonds  was  invalid — and 
that  upon  other  questions  raised  by  counsel  the  Court 
was  equally  divided,  and  therefore  expressed  no  opinion. 
On  the  question  of  taxing  rents  the  Court  was  said  to 
stand :      Affirming  the  law,  Justices  Harlan  and  White ; 
opposed,  Chief   Justice   Fuller,   and   Justices  Brewer, 
Brown,  Field,  Gray,  and  Shiras.      On  the  general  ques- 
tion of  its  constitutionality,  the  Court  divided  equally  : 


234  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

For  the  law,  Justices  Brewer,  Brown,  Harlan  and 
White ;  against  it,  Chief  Justice  Fuller  and  Justices 
Field,  Gray  and  Shiras.  Justice  Jackson  was  sick  and 
did  not  hear  the  case.  Mr.  W.  D.  Guthrie,  one  of  those 
actively  engaged  in  the  case,  was  impressed  with  the 
idea  that  upon  a  further  hearing  the  Court  would 
declare  the  whole  law  invalid,  and  an  application  for  a 
rehearing  was  accordingly  made  and  granted,  the  Court 
convening  for  such  purpose  on  May  7th.  Arguments 
were  made  against  the  law  by  Messrs.  Choate  and 
Guthrie  and  for  it  by  Attorney  General  Olney,  and  the 
Assistant  Attorney  General,  Mr.  Whitney,  and  on  May 
27th  the  Court  handed  down  its  decision  declaring 
every  provision  contained  in  sections  27  to  37  of 
the  Wilson  act  to  be  unconstitutional,  null  and  void. 
The  vote  of  the  Court  was  as  follows :  Against 
the  law,  Chief  Justice  Fuller  (Dem.),  Justices 
Field  (Dem.),  Gray  (Rep.),  Brewer  (Rep.),  and 
Shiras  (Rep.) ;  sustaining  the  law,  Justices  Har- 
lan (Rep.),  Brown  (Rep.),  Jackson  (Dem.),  and 
White  (Dem.).  In  concluding  his  opinion  Judge  Harlan 
asked  this  pertinent  question:  "The  judgment  just 
rendered  defeats  the  purpose  of  Congress  by  taking  out 
of  the  revenue  not  less  than  $30,000,000,  and  possibly 
$50,000,000,  expected  to  be  raised  of  incomes.  We 
know  from  the  official  journals  of  both  houses  of  Con- 
gress that  taxation  would  not  have  been  reduced  to  the 
extent  it  was  by  the  Wilson  act  but  for  the  belief  that 
if  the  country  had  the  benefit  of  revenue  derived  from  a 
tax  on  incomes  it  could  be  safely  done.  We  know  from 
official  sources  that  each  house  of  Congress  distinctly 
refused  to  strike  out  the  provisions  imposing  a  tax  on 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  235 

incomes.  •     If,  therefore,  all  the  income-tax 

sections  of  the  Wilson  act  must  fall  because  some  of 
them  are  invalid,  does  not  the  judgment  this  day 
rendered  furnish  ground  for  the  contention  that  the 
entire  act  falls  when  the  Court  strikes  from  it  all  of  the 
income-tax  provisions,  without  which  the  act  would 
never  have  been  passed  ? " 

Another  point  of  great  contention  may  be  mentioned 
in  this  connection.  The  tariff  act  of  1890  provided  for 
an  annual  appropriation  by  Congress  for  the  amount  of 
the  bounty  guaranteed  the  domestic  producers  of  sugar, 
and  the  sum  estimated  as  necessary  for  this  purpose  by 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  for  1895  was  $11,000,000. 
This  sum  had  been  honorably  earned  by  the  sugar- 
producers  of  the  country  and  its  payment  was  naturally 
expected.  On  September  5,  1895,  however,  Hon. 
Robert  B.  Bowler,  of  Ohio,  Comptroller  of  the  Treasury, 
rendered  a  decision  on  the  constitutionality  of  the  sugar 
bounty  appropriated  in  the  Sundry  Civil  Bill  by  the 
Fifty-third  Congress  (Democratic  in  both  branches),  the 
case  being  that  of  the  Oxnard  Beet  Sugar  Company,  of 
Nebraska,  for  $11,782.50.  Until  this  hour  it  had  not 
been  generally  supposed  that  the  Comptroller  had  any 
jurisdiction  by  which  he  could  pass  upon  the  right  of 
payment,  but  Mr.  Bowler  asserted  his  jurisdiction  and 
right  to  refuse  payment  of  these  bounties  on  the 
ground  of  the  unconstitutionality  of  the  appropriation 
— although  made  in  obedience  to  existing  law.  He 
quoted  the  decision  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  in  a  suit  brought  for  a  mandamus 
to  compel  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  the  Com- 
missioner of  Internal  Revenue  to  pay  the  sugar  bounty 


236  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

provided  in  the  act  of  1890,  and  held  that  the  Court 
having  decided  all  such  bounties  to  be  unconstitutional, 
its  decision  was  one  of  which  he  was  bound  to  take 
cognizance.  He  therefore  ordered  the  papers  to  be 
returned  to  the  Auditor  for  transmission  to  the  Court 
of  Claims,  "in  order  that  there  may  be  furnished  a 
precedent  for  the  future  action  of  the  Executive  Depart- 
ment in  the  adjustment  of  the  class  of  cases  involved  in 
these  sugar  bounties." 

The  tariff  received  but  little  attention  at  the  third 
session  of  the  Fifty- third  Congress,  which  began  Decem- 
ber 3,  1894,  and  ended  by  the  constitutional  limitation, 
March  3,  1895.  President  Cleveland  discussed  some  of 
its  features  in  his  annual  message,  but  his  recommenda- 
tions were  not  adopted,  nor  was  any  determined  effort 
made  to  amend  the  act  of  the  preceding  August  in  any 
essential  particular.  He  said : 

"  The  German  Government  has  protested  against  that 
provision  of  the  customs  tariff  act  which  imposes  a  dis- 
criminating duty  of  one-tenth  of  one  cent  a  pound  on 
sugars  coming  from  countries  paying  an  export  bounty 
thereon,  claiming  that  the  exaction  of  such  a  duty  is  in 
contravention  of  Articles  V  and  IX  of  the  treaty  of 
1828  with  Prussia.  In  the  interest  of  the  commerce  of 
both  countries,  and  to  avoid  even  the  accusation  of 
treaty  violation,  I  recommend  the  repeal  of  so  much  of 
the  statute  as  imposes  that  duty,  and  I  invite  attention 
to  the  accompanying  report  of  the  Secretary  of  State 
containing  a  discussion  of  the  questions  raised  by  the 

German  protests The  Secretary  of   the  Treas 

ury  reports  that  the  receipts  of  the  Government  from 
all  sources  of  revenue  during  the  fiscal  year  ending 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  237 

June  30,  1894,  amounted  to  $382,802,498.29,  and  its 
expenditures  to  $442,605,758.87,  leaving  a  deficit  of 
$69,803,260.58.  There  was  a  decrease  of  $15,952,- 
674.66  in  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the  Government  as 
compared  with  the  fiscal  year  1893.  There  was  col- 
lected from,  customs  $131,818,530.62,  and  from  internal 
revenue  $147,168,449.70.  The  balance  of  the  income 
for  the  year,  amounting  to  $93,815,517.97,  was  derived 
from  sales,  of  lands  and  other  sources.  The  value  of 
our  total  dutiable  imports  amounted  to  $275,199,086, 
being  $146,657,625  less  than  during  the  preceding  year; 
and  the  importations  free  of  duty  amounted  to  $379,- 
795,536,  being  $64,748,675  less  than  during  the  pre- 
ceding year.  The  receipts  from  customs  were  $73,536,- 
486.11  less,  and  from  internal  revenue  $13,836,539.97 
less,  than  in  1893.  The  total  tax  collected  from  dis- 
tilled spirits  was  $85,259,250.25;  on  manufactured 
tobacco,  $28,617,898.62;  and  on  fermented  liquors, 
$31,414,788.04.  Our  exports  of  merchandise,  domestic 
and  foreign,  amounted  during  the  year  to  $892,140,572, 
being  an  increase  over  the  preceding  year  of  $44,495,- 

378 The  tariff  act  passed  at  the  last  session 

of  the  Congress  needs  important  amendments  if  it  is  to 
be  executed  effectively  and  with  certainty.  In  addition 
to  such  necessary  amendments  as  will  not  change  rates 
of  duty,  I  am  still  very  decidedly  in  favor  of  putting 
coal  and  iron  upon  the  free  list.  So  far  as  the  sugar 
schedule  is  concerned,  I  would  be  glad,  under  existing 
aggravations,  to  see  eveiy  particle  of  differential  duty 
in  favor  of  refined  sugar  stricken  out  of  our  tariff  laws. 
If  with  all  the  favor  now  accorded  the  sugar-refining 
interest  in  our  tariff  laws  it  still  languishes  to  the  ex- 


238  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

tent  of  closed  refineries  and  thousands  of  discharged 
workmen,  it  would  seem  to  present  a  hopeless  case  for 
reasonable  legislative  aid.     Whatever  else  is   done  or 
omitted,  I  earnestly  repeat  here  the  recommendation  I 
have  made  in  another  portion  of  this  communication, 
that  the  additional  duty  of  one-tenth  of  a  cent   per 
pound  laid  upon  sugar  imported  from  foreign  countries 
paying  a  bounty  on  its  export  be  abrogated.     It  seems 
to  me  that  exceedingly  important  considerations  point 
to  the  propriety  of  this  amendment.     With  the  advent 
of   a    new    tariff     policy     not     only     calculated    to 
relieve    the  consumers    of  our    land    in    the    cost    of 
their     daily     life,      but     to     invite     a     better    de- 
velopment    of     American     thrift     and     create     for 
us  closer  and  more  profitable  commercial  relations  with 
the  rest  of  the  world,  it  follows  as  a  logical  and  im- 
perative necessity  that  we  should  at  once  remove  the 
chief,  if  not  the  only,  obstacle  which  has  so  long  pre- 
vented our  participation  in  the  foreign  carrying  trade 
of  the  sea.     A  tariff  built  upon  the  theory  that  it  is 
well  to  check  imports  and  that  a  home  market  should 
bound  the  industiy  and  effort  of  American  producers 
was  fitly  supplemented  by  a  refusal  to  allow  American 
registry  to  vessels  built  abroad  though  owned  and  navi- 
gated by  our  people,  thus  exhibiting  a  willingness  to 
abandon  all  contest  for  the  advantages  of  American 
transoceanic  carriage.      Our  new  tariff  policy,  built 
upon  the  theory  that  it  is  well  to  encourage  such  im- 
portations as  our  people  need,  and  that  our  products 
and  manufactures  should  find  markets  in  every  part  of 
the  habitable  globe,  is  consistently  supplemented  by 
the  greatest  possible  liberty   to   our  citizens  in   the 


OF  HENEY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  239 

ownership  and  navigation  of  ships  in  which  our  prod- 
ucts and  manufactures  may  be  transported.  The 
millions  now  paid  to  foreigners  for  carrying  American 
passengers  and  products  across  the  sea  should  be  turned 
into  American  hands.  Ship-building,  which  has  been 
protected  to  strangulation,  should  be  revived  by  the 
prospect  of  profitable  employment  for  ships  when  built, 
and  the  American  sailor  should  be  resurrected  and  again 
take  his  place — a  sturdy  and  industrious  citizen  in  time 
of  peace  and  a  patriotic  and  safe  defender  of  American 
interests  in  the  day  of  conflict.  The  ancient  provision 
of  our  law  denying  American  registry  to  ships  built 
abroad  and  owned  by  Americans  appears  in  the  light  of 
present  conditions  not  only  to  be  a  failure  for  good  at 
every  point,  but  to  be  nearer  a  relic  of  barbarism  than 
anything  that  exists  under  the  permission  of  a  statute 
of  the  United  States.  I  earnestly  recommend  its 
prompt  repeal." 


CHAPTER  V. 

To  provide  for  the  steadily  increasing  deficiency  in 
the  Treasury  occasioned  by  a  change  in  our  tariff  laws, 
the  Administration  had  resorted  to  the  policy  of  issuing 
bonds,  an  expedient  that  should  have  been  adopted 
only  after  all  reasonable  efforts  to  secure  an  adequate 
revenue  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  Government  had  been 
fully  exhausted.  This,  however,  was  not  the  reason 
given  for  their  issue  by  the  Secretary  and  the  President. 
The  excuse  offered  was  that  it  was  necessary  to  issue 
the  bonds  in  order  to  maintain  the  gold  reserve  of 
$100,000,000  in  the  Treasury  for  the  redemption  of 
greenbacks.  Such  a  necessity  had  not  before  arisen 
since  the  resumption  of  specie  payments,  and  for  the 
first  time  the  gold  reserve  of  $100,000,000  was  en- 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  241 

croached  upon.  Under  the  demands  imposed  upon  it 
by  its  tariff  reform  policy,  however,  the  Administration 
felt  constrained  to  apply  it  to  meet  the  daily  necessities 
of  the  Government,  and  even  this  did  not  suffice  to  meet 
the  demands  for  the  gold  which  was  being  so  largely 
used  in  the  payment  of  the  trade  balances  against  us. 
In  January,  1894,  $50,000,000  in  bonds  were  issued, 
and  a  second  issue  of  $50,000,000  was  again  deemed 
necessary  on  November  26,  1894.  The  sum  of  $116,- 
000,000  was  realized  by  the  sale  of  these  bonds,  yet  the 
gold  reserve  in  the  Treasury  was  steadily  depleted  until 
it  had  fallen  to  $58,463,173.  On  that  day,  November 
26th,  the  President  sent  a  special  message  to  Congress 
and  urged  the  issue  of  bonds,  payable  in  gold,  instead 
of  in  coin,  as  had  heretofore  been  the  practice,  to  re- 
plenish the  gold  reserve  and  redeem  the  legal-tender 
notes  of  the  Government.  The  amount  of  such  notes 
was  stated  by  him  to  be  about  $500,000,000.  "More 
than  $172,000,000,"  said  he,  "have  been  drawn  out  of 
the  Treasury  during  the  year  for  the  purpose  of  ship- 
ment abroad  or  hoarding  at  home.  While  nearly  $103,- 
000,000  was  drawn  out  during  the  first  ten  months  of 
the  year  a  sum  aggregating  more  than  two  thirds  of 
that  amount,  being  about  $69,000,000,  was  drawn  out 
during  the  following  two  months,  thus  indicating  a 
marked  acceleration  of  the  depleting  process  with  the 
lapse  of  time."  In  other  words,  while  about  $20,600,000 
had  been  drawn  out  before  the  passage  of  the  new  tariff 
law,  about  $151,400,000  "  of  the  depleting  process  "  had 
followed  its  enactment.  Still  the  President  saw  no 
relief  in  the  adoption  of  a  policy  that  would  at  once 
both  provide  abundant  revenue  and  protect  our  home 


242  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

industries,  by  adjusting  the  tariff  on  protective  lines. 
"It  will  hardly  do,"  he  observed,  "to  say  that  a  simple 
increase  of  revenue  will  cure  our  troubles.  The  appre- 
hension now  existing  and  constantly  increasing  as  to 
our  financial  ability  does  not  rest  upon  a  calculation  of 
our  revenue.  The  time  has  passed  when  the  eyes  of  in- 
vestors  abroad  and  our  people  at  home  were  fixed  upon 
the  revenues  of  the  Government.  Changed  conditions 
liave  attracted  attention  to  the  gold  of  the  Government. 
There  need  be  no  fear  that  we  can  not  pay  our  current 
expenses  with  such  money  as  we  have.  There  is  now 
in  the  Treasury  a  comfortable  surplus  of  more  than 
$63,000,000,  but  it  is  not  in  gold,  and  therefore  does  not 
meet  our  difficulty." 

The  "  changed  conditions  "  had  indeed  "  accelerated  " 
the  process  of  "  investors  abroad  "  getting  possession  of 
the  gold  of  our  people.  But  it  is  not  hard  to  see 
why,  under  the  protective  policy,  when  we  were 
both  making  our  goods  and  keeping  our  gold  at 
home,  no  similar  "  difficulty "  as  that  which  now 
alarmed  the  President  had  ever  occurred. 

A  bill  designed  to  carry  out  the  President's  recom- 
mendations was  introduced  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives on  November  26th,  by  Hon.  William  M. 
Springer,  of  Illinois.  For  this  bill  Mr.  Reed,  of  Maine, 
offered  a  substitute,  entitled  "  a  bill  to  provide  for  a 
temporary  deficiency  of  revenue."  By  this  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  was  authorized  to  issue  bonds,  bearing 
not  more  than  three  per  cent,  interest,  and  payable  in 
coin,  "  to  an  amount  sufficient  to  provide  for  and  main- 
tain the  redemption  of  United  States  notes,"  as  provided 
in  the  specie  resumption  act  of  1875,  and  "to  pay  the 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  243 

current  expenses  of  the  Government  as  long  as  the  cur- 
rent revenues  shall  be  deficient."  An  elaborate  substi- 
tute was  also  offered  by  Hon.  Nicholas  N.  Cox,  of  Ten- 
nessee, to  meet  the  views  of  the  Democratic  members 
who  were,  with  him,  opposed  to  gold  alone  being  re- 
quired in  payment  of  the  bonds.  The  substitute  by 
Mr.  Eeed  was  rejected  by  the  House,  on  February  7th, 
by  a  vote  of  107  yeas  to  189  nays,  and  that  by  Mr.  Cox 
by  55  yeas  to  184  nays.  The  bill  by  Mr.  Springer  was 
also  defeated — yeas  135,  Kepublicans  42,  Democrats  93; 
nays  162,  Republicans  55,  Democrats  107.  Four  Demo- 
crats answered  "present,"  and  forty-eight  members, 
twenty-two  Republicans  and  twenty-six  Democrats,  did 
not  vote.  Mr.  Springer  moved  to  reconsider  this  vote, 
and  Mr.  Hatch  to  table  his  motion,  which  prevailed  by 
135  yeas  to  124  nays. 

On  the  next  day,  February  8,  1895,  President  Cleve- 
land sent  another  special  message  to  Congress  announ- 
cing the  third  sale  of  bonds  under  the  present  Adminis- 
tration "  to  parties  abundantly  able  to  fulfill  their  un- 
dertaking, whereby  bonds  of  the  United  States  author- 
ized under  the  act  of  January  14,  1875,  payable  in  coin 
thirty  years  after  their  date,  with  interest  at  the  rate  of 
four  per  cent,  per  annum,  to  the  amount  of  a  little  less 
than  $62,400,000,  are  to  be  issued  for  the  purchase  of 
gold  coin,  amounting  to  a  sum  slightly  in  excess  of 
$65,000,000,  to  be  delivered  to  the  Treasury  of  the 
United  States,  which  sura,  added  to  the  gold  now  held 
in  our  reserve,  will  so  restore  such  reserve  as  to  make  it 
amount  to  more  than  $100,000,000."  The  bonds  were 
purchased  by  Messrs.  August  Belmont  &>  Co.,  of  New 
York,  on  behalf  of  Messrs.  N.  M.  Rothschild  <fe  Sons,  of 


244  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

London,  England,  and  Messrs.  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Co.,  of 
New  York,  on  behalf  of  Messrs.  J.  S.  Morgan  &  Co., 
of  London,  as  stated  in  a  report  of  the  Ways  and  Means 
Committee  of  the  House,  on  February  13th,  and  was 
made  without  public  notice  or  competitive  bidding  as 
had  previously  been  the  practice  in  all  such  transac- 
tions. This  report  recommended  the  adoption  of  a 
joint  resolution  authorizing  the  issue  of  $65,116,275  of 
gold  three  per  cent,  bonds.  This  also  was  disagreed  to 
by  the  House,  on  February  14th,  by  a  vote  of  120  yeas  to 
167  nays.  Of  those  voting  in  the  affirmative  thirty 
were  Republicans  and  ninety  Democrats ;  of  those  in  the 
negative,  fifty-five  were  Republicans  and  112  Demo- 
crats, while  two  Democrats  answered  "  present "  and 
sixty  members  did  not  vote — twenty-three  Republicans 
and  thirty-seven  Democrats. 

The  first  session  of  the  Fifty-fourth  Congress  con- 
vened on  Monday,  December  2,  1895.  Hon.  Thomas 
B.  Reed,  of  Maine,  was  the  unanimous  choice  of  the 
Republican  caucus  for  Speaker,  and  was  elected  by  the 
House  over  Hon.  Charles  F.  Crisp,  of  Georgia,  the  retir- 
ing Speaker,  by  a  vote  of  244  to  1 05.  On  December  1 7th, 
the  Speaker  announced  the  appointment  of  the  Ways  and 
Mean  s  Committee,  as  follows  :  Messrs.  Nelson  Dingley, 
Jr.,  of  Maine,  Chairman,  Sereno  E.  Payne,  of  New 
York,  John  Dalzell,  of  Pennsylvania,  Albert  J.  Hopkins, 
of  Illinois,  Charles  H.  Grosvenor,  of  Ohio,  Charles 
A.  Russell,  of  Connecticut,  Jonathan  P.  Doliver, 
of  Iowa,  George  W.  Steele,  of  Indiana,  Martin  N. 
Johnson,  of  North  Dakota,  and  Walter  Evans,  of  Ken- 
tucky, Republicans ;  and  Charles  F.  Crisp,  of  Georgia, 
Benton  F.  McMillin,  of  Tennessee,  Henry  G.  Turner, 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  245 

of  Georgia,  John  C.  Tarsney,  of  Missouri,  Joseph 
Wheeler,  of  Alabama,  and  John  McLaurin,  of  South 
Carolina,  Democrats.  The  Committees  of  the  Senate 
were  reorganized  on  December  30th,  by  a  vote  of  30 
to  28,  to  meet  the  change  in  the  political  complexion 
of  that  body,  oy  a  special  committee  appointed  for  the 
purpose.  The  Finance  Committee  agreed  upon  was  as 
follows :  Messrs.  Justin  S.  Morril,  of  Vermont,  Chair- 
man ;  John  Sherman,  of  Ohio ;  John  P.  Jones,  of 
Nevada ;  William  B.  Allison,  of  Iowa ;  Nelson  W.  Aid- 
rich,  of  Rhode  Island;  Orville  H.  Platt,  of  Con- 
necticut ;  Edward  O.  Wolcott,  of  Colorado ;  Daniel  W. 
Voorhees,  of  Indiana  ;  Isham  G.  Harris,  of  Tennessee ; 
George  G.  Vest,  of  Missouri;  James  K.  Jones,  of 
Arkansas;  Stephen  M.  White,  of  California;  and  Ed- 
ward C.  Walthall,  of  Mississippi.  Hon.  William  P. 
Frye,  of  Maine,  was  agreed  upon  for  President  pro  tern, 
of  the  Senate,  and  was  elected  to  that  office  on  Feb- 
ruary 7,  1896. 

President  Cleveland  recommended  no  changes  what- 
ever in  our  revenue  laws,  in  his  annual  message  to  Con- 
gress, December  3,  1895.  The  tariff  question,  indee 
was  treated  very  briefly,  and  in  but  a  single  short 
paragraph,  reading  as  follows  : 

"  By  command  of  the  people  a  customs-revenue  sys- 
tem, designed  for  the  protection  and  benefit  of  favored 
classes  at  the  expense  of  the  great  mass  of  our  country- 
men, and  which,  while  inefficient  for  the  purpose 
of  revenue,  curtailed  our  trade  relations  and  impeded 
our  entrance  to  the  markets  of  the  world,  has  been 
superseded  by  a  tariff  policy  which  in  principle  is 
based  upon  the  denial  of  the  right  of  the  Government 


246  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

to  obstruct  the  avenues  to  our  people's  cheap  living  or 
lessen  their  comfort  and  contentment,  for  the  sake  of 
according  especial  advantages  to  favorites,  and  which, 
while  encouraging  our  intercourse  and  trade  with  other 
nations,  recognizes  the  fact  that  American  self-reliance, 
thrift,  and  ingenuity  can  build  up  our  country's  in- 
dustries and  develop  its  resources  more  surely  than 
enervating  paternalism." 

The  President  did  not  attempt  to  show  the  progress 
made  in  "building  up  our  country's  industries  and  de- 
veloping its  resources"  under  the  tariff  act  of  1894, 
nor  did  he  offer  any  comparison  of  the  gain  by  its 
operations  in  contrast  with  the  law  of  1890  and 
the  previous  protective  legislation  of  the  Republican 
party.  Neither  did  he  show  wherein  the  act  of  1890 
was  "  inefficient  for  the  purpose  of  revenue,"  nor  the  im- 
provement made  under  the  new  law  in  this  or  any  re- 
spect, as  an  example  of  the  great  advantages  he 
predicted  would  certainly  follow  the  adoption  of  his 
"  tariff  reform  "  policy.  Such  a  review  could  not  have 
but  impressed  the  country,  and  added  to  the  enlighten- 
ment of  the  people. 

This  message  was  quickly  followed  by  a  special  mes- 
sage to  Congress,  on  December  17th,  treating  exclu- 
sively of  the  Venezuelan  boundary  controversy,  a  dis- 
pute that  to  some  degree  threatened  serious  complica- 
tions and  possibly  a  war  with  Great  Britian,  with  the 
enormous  outlays  that  such  a  step  would  necessarily  in- 
volve. On  December  20th  the  President  sent  a  s'econd 
special  message  to  Congress  devoted  entirely  to  the  public 
credit  and  the  condition  of  our  National  finances.  So 
serious  had  the  situation  now  become,  in  the  opinion  of 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  247 

the  President,  that  Congress  was  asked  to  forego  its 
customary  holiday  vacation.  They  must  devote  them- 
selves exclusively  to  the  public  business  to  meet  the 
overshadowing  emergency. 

"  After  all  fhe  efforts  that  have  been  made  by  the 
Executive  branch  of  the  Government,"  said  Mr.  Cleve- 
land, "  to  protect  our  gold  reserve  by  the  issuance  of 
bonds  amounting  to  more  than  $162,000,000,  such  reserve 
now  amounts  to  but  little  more  than  $79,000,000,  and 
about  $16,000,000  were  withdrawn  from  such  reserve 
during  the  month  next  previous  to  the  date  of  my  last 
annual  message,  and  quite  large  withdrawals  for  ship- 
ment in  the  immediate  future  are  predicted."  The 
remedy  for  this  condition,  suggested  by  the  President, 
was  not  to  increase  the  revenues  of  the  Government 
until  they  were  adequate  to  meet  its  expenditures. 
The  "  sudden  and  unusual  apprehension  and  timidity  in 
business  circles  "  described  by  him  was,  apparently,  to 
be  met  only  by  issuing  more  bonds. 

The  President  did  not  state,  as  might  frankly  have 
been  done,  that  the  new  tariff  law  had  not  begun  to 
meet  the  necessities  of  the  Government,  from  the  stand- 
point simply  of  providing  adequate  revenues  to  meet  its 
expenditures.  Up  to  the  meeting  of  the  Fifty-fourth 
Congress  the  so-called  Wilson  act  had  been  in  force 
fifteen  months,  and  the  official  statements  of  the  Treasury 
Department .  of  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the 
Government  under  its  operations  up  to  September  30, 
1895,  had  disclosed  the  following  facts:  The  expendi- 
tures exceeded  the  receipts  in  the  month  of  September, 
1894,  $7,701,789.73.  For  the  quarter  ending  December 
31,  1894,  the  receipts  were  $61,211,058.11  and  the  ex- 


248  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

penditures  $88,324,246.70 — showing  a  deficiency  of 
$27,113,188.59.  For  the  quarter  ending  March  31, 1895, 
receipts  $77,991,042.75,  expenditures  $85,951,016.43, 
deficiency  $7,959,973.68.  For  the  quarter  ending  June 
30th,  receipts  $75,215,297.83,  expenditures,  $83,291,- 
801.76— deficiency  $8,076,503.93.  For  the  quarter 
ending  September  30th,  receipts  $87,390,864.90,  ex- 
penditures $95,445,734.09 — deficiency  $8,054,869.19. 
A  total  for  the  period  of  $324,429,492.47  in  receipts 
and  $383,335,817.59  in  expenditures,  or  a  deficiency  of 
$58,906,325.12.  The  revenues  of  the  Government  from 
all  sources  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30, 1895,  were 
$390,373,203.30,  and  the  expenditures  for  that  period 
$433,178,426.48,  showing  a  deficit  of  $42,805,223.18. 
Nor  has  this  -condition  since  been  improved.  The 
receipts  of  the  Government  for  the  quarter  ending 
December  31,  1895,  were  $81,880,927.46,  and  its  ex- 
penditures $87,360,517.12,  a  deficiency  of  $5,479,589.66. 
For  the  quarter  ending  March  31,  1896,  the  receipts 
were  $81,338,047.69,  the  expenditures  $86,554,291.05, 
and  the  deficiency  $5,216,243.36.  This  record  is  also 
being  maintained  during  the  current  month,  for  up  to 
April  17th  the  receipts  of  the  Government  were 
$14,225,688.12,  and  the  expenditures  $20,956,388.00, 
showing  a  deficiency  of  $6,730,699.88,  or  nearly 
$400,000  per  day.  The  aggregate  receipts  under  the 
new  tariff  law  from  September  1,  1894,  to  April  17, 
1896,  have  been  $501,874,155.74,  and  the  expenditures 
$578,207,013.76— showing  a  deficit  of  $76,332,858.02, 
or  an  average  per  month  of  $3,452,745. 

Obedient  to  the  President's  request,  Congress,  despite 
its  custom,  continued  in  session,  and  on  December  26th, 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  249 

Mr.  Dingley,  Chairman  of  the  Ways  and  Means  Com- 
mittee of  the  House  of  Representatives,  introduced  a 
bill  to  "  temporarily  increase  revenue  to  meet  the  ex- 
penses of  government  and  to  provide  against  a  de- 
ficiency," and  iri  connection  with  the  matter  submitted 
an  able  and  interesting  report,  from  which  the  following 
passages  are  taken.  He  said : 

"Your  Committee  regard  the  chronic  deficiency  of 
revenue  for  the  past  two  years  and  a  half  as  a  most 
potent  cause  of  the  difficulties  which  the  Treasury  has 
encountered,  and  an  important  factor  in  the  creation  and 
promotion  of  that  serious  distrust  which  has  paralyzed 
business  and  dangerously  shaken  confidence  even  in  the 
financial  operations  of  the  Government.  It  is  as  im- 
possible for  a  government  to  have  a  continuous  de- 
ficiency of  revenue  for  two  years  and  a  half  without 
affecting  its  financial  standing,  as  it  is  for  an  individual. 
It  is  impossible  also  for  a  government  to  continue  in 
this  condition  without  casting  a  shadow  of  doubt  and 
discouragement  over  all  business  operations  within  its 
borders.  The  serious  fact  which  we  are  called  npon  to 
confront  is  that  in  the  two  and  a  half  years  that  have 
elapsed  since  July  1,  1893,  this  Government  has  had  an 
insufficiency  of  revenue  to  meet  current  expenditures 
amounting  in  the  aggregate  to  about  $133,000,000. 
Even  in  the  first  half  of  the  present  fiscal  year  the 
deficiency  will  reach  about  $20,000,000  and  about 
$3,000,000  during  the  present  month.  And  up  to  the 
present  time  there  is  no  sufficient  ground  for  concluding 
that  this  insufficiency  of  revenue  will  not  continue 
during  the  remainder  of  the  fiscal  year,  and  how  much 
longer  no  one  can  safely  predict.  If  the  consequences 


250  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

of  such  a  chronic  deficiency  were  only  the  necessity  of 
borrowing  money  to  meet  current  expenses  in  time  of 
peace,  even  this  would  afford  abundant  reason  for  in- 
creasing the  revenue.  But  the  consequences  are  more 
wide  reaching  than  that.  Insufficiency  of  revenue  has 
made  it  necessary  to  use  the  redeemed  United  States 
legal-tender  notes  to  pay  current  expenditures,  and 
thus  to  supply  additional  means  to  draw  gold  from  the 
greenback  redemption  fund — in  short,  to  create  the 
*  endless  chain '  of  which  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
complains,  and  which  has  made  it  necessary  to  sell  issue 
after  issue  of  bonds  to  replenish  the  reserve.  In 
response  to  the  urgent  call  of  the  President,  your 
Committee  have  felt  impelled  to  act  with  all  possible 
dispatch.  Two  facts  have  led  your  Committee  to  look 
to  an  increase  of  customs  duties  as  the  most  appro- 
priate source  of  additional  revenue.  They  are,  first,  the 
fact  that  we  are  already  raising  a  disproportionate 
amount  from  internal  revenue,  which  has  always  been 
regarded  as  a  war  resort.  Indeed,  Jefferson  took  the 
ground  that  excise  taxes  should  not  be  resorted  to  by 
the  Federal  Government  as  sources  of  revenue  in  time 
of  peace,  and  the  Democratic  National  Convention 
maintained  the  same  doctrine  in  1884;  and,  secondly, 
the  fact  that  by  increasing  customs  duties  on  im- 
ported articles  which  we  can  and  ought  to  produce 
or  make  at  home,  for  revenue  purposes,  we  can  at  the 
same  tune  incidentally  encourage  stricken  industries 
and  materially  aid  in  turning  in  our  favor  the  balance 
of  trade  which  has  been  so  heavily  against  us  all 
through  this  calendar  year,  and  which  has  caused  a 
demand  for  gold  for  export  that  our  Treasury  has  been 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  251 

called  upon  to  supply.  For  so  long  as  the  balance  of 
trade  is  against  us  on  account  of  excessive  imports  of 
articles  which  we  ought  to  produce  or  make  for  our- 
selves, we  musj;  export  gold  or  (what  is  the  same 
thing)  promise  to  pay  gold  to  pay  for  the  excess  of 
imports  over  the  exports. 

"Your  Committee  have  not  undertaken  a  general 
revision  of  the  tariff  on  protection  lines,  as  a  majority 
hope  can  be  done  in  1897,  not  only  because  they  know 
that  such  tariff  legislation  would  stand  no  chance  of  be- 
coming a  law,  but  also  because  general  ta'riff  revision 
would  require  many  months;  and  the  need  is  more 
revenue  at  once.  We  believe,  however,  that  this  need 
of  more  revenue  is  so  great  that  a  simple  measure 
increasing  all  duties  of  the  dutiable  list,  and  taking  from 
the  free  list  of  the  present  tariff  a  few  articles  that  were 
always  on  the  dutiable  list  until  August  27,  1894,  and 
which  have  always  been  important  revenue  producers, 
and  limiting  the  operation  of  such  legislation  to  about 
two  years  and  a  half — until  the  present  deficiency  of 
of  revenue  is  overcome — ought  to  receive  the  approval 
even  of  those  who  do  not  favor  protective  duties  on 
patriotic  grounds ;  and  that  the  fact  that  it  may  inci- 
dentally encourage  the  production  of  many  articles  that 
we  require  at  home  instead  of  abroad  will  not  be 
regarded  as  a  ground  of  opposition  under  present  cir- 
cumstances. In  framing  the  bill  submitted  for  your 
consideration  it  has  been  necessary,  if  action  was  to  be 
taken  promptly,  to  resort  to  a  considerable  extent  to  a 
horizontal  raise  of  duties,  for  the  reason  that  it  would 
have  required  months  to  deal  with  each  article  separ- 
ately. Horizontal  dealing  with  tariffs  can  not  be  justi- 


252  THE  TAKIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

fied  in  ordinary  time?,  but  in  such  an  exigency  as  exists 
now — 8o  serious  that  the  President  felt  it  his  duty  to 
send  us  a  special  message  of  extreme  urgency — and 
especially  for  a  limited  time,  it  is  not  only  defensible, 
but  it  is  the  only  alternative.  But  while  we  have  pre- 
sented in  the  bill  reported  a  horizontal  increse  of  fifteen 
per  cent,  of  existing  duties  on  all  the  schedules  but  two, 
which  is  an  addition  of  less  than  eight  per  cent,  to  the 
average  ad  valorem  rate  giving  about  $15,000,000 
revenue  from  that  source,  yet  more  than  $25,000,000  of 
of  the  $40,000,000  which  it  is  estimated  this  bill  would 
add  to  our  annual  revenue  will  come  mainly  from  wool, 
which  is  taken  from  the  free  list  and  given  a  moderate 
duty,  and  from  manufactures  of  wool,  which  are  given  a 
compensatory  duty  equivalent  to  the  duty  on  wool, 
which  is  always  necessary  when  a  duty  is  placed  on 
wool,  in  -order  to  give  the  wool-grower  the  benefit  and 
make  it  possible  to  manufacture  woolens  at  home.  The 
bill  reported  by  your  Committee  proposes  to  make  the 
duty  on  imported  clothing  wool  sixty  per  cent,  of  the 
duty  imposed  by  the  act  of  1890,  which  would  give  an 
equivalent  of  six  and  six-tenths  of  a  cent  per  pound  on 
unwashed  wool,  or  about  forty  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 
This  reduction  from  the  duty  of  the  act  of  1890  has 
been  made  because  the  restoration  of  the  full  duty  in 
that  act  might  seem  to  be  too  great  a  change  from  the 
present  law  to  those  whose  co-operation  it  is  necessary 
to  secure  in  order  to  have  any  legislation,  and  not  as  a 
measure  of  what  might  be  done  when  all  branches  of 
the  Government  are  in  harmony  with  the  majority  of 
the  House  on  protection  lines.  The  duty  on  manu- 
factures of  wool  is  increased  by  a  specific  duty  equi- 


OF  HENRY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  253 

valent  to  the  duty  on  wool.  The  duty  on  carpet  wools 
is  left  at  the  thirty-two  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  where  it 
was  placed  in  1890.  This  is  a  purely  revenue  duty,  as 
we  raise  very  few  carpet  wools. 

"  Such  lumber  as  was  placed  on  the  free  list  by  the 
act  of  1890,  without  the  slightest  justification,  is  restored 
to  the  dutiable  list,  but  with  a  duty  of  only  sixty  per 
cent,  of  the  duties  provided  by  the  act  of  1890 — giving 
an  equivalent  of  only  about  fifteen  per  cent.  Such  a 
reduction  from  the  low  rates  of  1890  is  justified  only  on 
the  ground  that  the  object  of  your  Committee  has  been 
to  frame  a  bill  mainly  on  revenue  grounds,  in  the  hope 
that  it  would  secure  the  approval  of  those  in  official 
place  whose  co-operation  is  essential  to  legislation,  and 
who  may  be  supposed  to  feel  that  in  such  an  exigency 
as  now  exists  the  public  necessity  must  control." 

The  rules  were  suspended  and  the  bill  immediately 
passed  by  the  House,  on  December  26th,  by  a  vote 
of  205  yeas  to  81  nays,  the  Republicans  in  the  affirm- 
ative, and  the  Democrats  and  Populists  in  the  negative. 
Thus  the  House  acted  with  signal  promptness  and  a 
fairn-ess  and  conservatism  rarely  equalled  in  a  body 
so  completely  controlled  by  the  party  in  opposition 
to  the  existing  Administration. 

In  the  Senate,  on  December  31st,  Mr.  Sherman  offered 
a  resolution,  declaring  that  it  was  owing  "  to  injurious 
legislation  by  the  Fifty-third  Congress,  that  the  reve- 
nues of  the  Government  had  been  reduced  below  its 
necessary  expenditures,  and  the  fund  created  by  law  for 
the  redemption  of  United  States  notes  had  been  in- 
vaded to  supply  deficiencies  of  reserve,  and  that  such  a 
misapplication  of  the  resumption  fund  is  of  doubtful 


254  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

legality  and  greatly  injurious  to  the  public  credit,"  and 
should  be  prevented  by  restoring  the  sum  that  had  been 
taken  from  it  to  the  gold  reserve  of  $100,000,000  that 
ought  to  be  kept  in  the  Treasury  for  the  purpose  of  re- 
deeming United  States  notes,  and  to  hereafter  segregate 
it  from  the  ordinary '  current  receipts  of  the  Govern- 
ment.  In  support  of  this  resolution  Mr.  Sherman  made 
a  notable  speech  on  January  3,  1896,  in  which  he  de- 
clared deficiency  of  revenue  to  be  the  sole  or  controlling 
cause  of  our  financial  difficulties.  "  The  President  has 
mistaken  the  cause  of  our  present  financial  situation," 
said  he,  "  in  attributing  it  to  the  demand  for  gold  for 
United  States  notes  instead  of  to  the  deficiency  of 
revenue  caused  by  the  legislation  of  the  last  Congress. 
He  places  the  effect  before  the  cause.  He  proposes  as 
a  remedy  the  conversion  of  the  United  States  notes  and 
the  Treasury  notes  into  interest-bearing  bonds,  thus 
increasing  the  interest-bearing  debt  nearly  $500,000,000. 
He  proposes  a  line  of  public  policy  that  will  produce  a 
sharp  contraction  in  our  currency,  add  greatly  to  the 
burden  of  existing  debts,  and  arrest  the  progress  of 
almost  every  American  industry  which  now  competes 
with  foreign  productions." 

On  the  same  day,  Hon.  Stephen  B.  Elkins,  of  West 
Virginia,  offered  a  resolution  directing  that  no  bonds  of 
the  United  States  be  sold  hereafter  at  private  sale  or 
under  private  contract.  The  effect  of  its  discussion, 
apparently  proved  influential  in  causing  a  change  in 
the  policy  of  the  Administration,  to  such  an  extent  that 
the  next  sale  of  bonds  was  made  after  due  advertise- 
ment and  to  the  general  public. 

On  January  8th  a  caucus  of  the  Republican  Senators 


OF  HENBY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  255 

was  held  at  which  it  was  agreed  to  have  the  House 
tariff  bill  reported  to  the  Senate  favorably,  and  with- 
out amendment.  But,  on  February  4th,  the  Committee 
on  Finance  reported  a  substitute,  striking  out  the 
whole  of  the  House  bill  and  inserting  in  lieu  thereof  a 
bill  providing  for  the  free  coinage  of  silver.  Mr.  Mor- 
rill,  of  Vermont,  Chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee, 
attempted  to  have  this  bill  considered,  on  February 
13th,  but  his  motion  to  take  it  up  was  defeated  by  a 
vote  of  21  to  29.  All  of  the  affirmative  votes  were 
cast  by  Republicans,  and  all  of  the  negative,  except  five, 
by  Democrats— Mr.  Jones,  of  Nevada,  and  Messrs. 
Carter  and  Mantle,  of  Montana,  Mr.  Dubois,  of  Idaho, 
and  Mr.  Teller,  of  Colorado,  Republicans.  On  February 
25th  a  motion  to  take  up  the  bill  was  again  defeated, 
yeas  22,  all  Republicans,  nays  33,  Democrats  23,  Re- 
publicans 5,  and  Independents  and  Populists  6.  The 
Republicans  voting  in  the  negative  were  Messrs.  Can- 
non, of  Utah,  Carter  and  Mantle,  of  Montana,  Dubois, 
of  Idaho,  and  Teller,  of  Colorado,  and  the  Independents 
and  Populists,  Messrs.  Allen,  of  Nebraska,  Peffer2  of 
Kansas,  Jones  and  Stewart,  of  Nevada,  and  Kyle,  of 
South  Dakota. 

A  new  loan  of  $100,000,000  in  four  per  cent,  bonds, 
payable  in  coin,  was  advertised  by  the  Government, 
ostensibly  to  maintain  the  gold  reserve  in  the  Treasury, 
which  had  fallen  in  January,  1896,  to  about  $49,000,- 
000.  This  swelled  the  aggregate  of  bonds  authorized 
by  the  present  Administration,  in  a  time  of  peace,  in 
less  than  three  years,  to  $262,602,245.27.  Bids  were 
opened  in  the  Treasury  Department  at  Washington,  on 
February  5th.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Presi- 


256  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

dent  in  November,  1894,  had  sanctioned  the  sale  of 
bonds  to  the  amount  of  $62,400,000,  to  run  thirty  years 
and  bear  four  per  cent,  interest,  to  a  syndicate  of 
bankers  at  a  premium  of  four  and  a  half  per  cent.  Four 
per  cent,  bonds,  due  in  1907,  were  then  selling  in  the 
open  market  at  110.  The  new  sale  was,  therefore, 
watched  with  much  interest,  and  it  demonstrated  the 
credit  of  our  Government  among  our  own  people,  to 
the  amazement  of  foreign  observers.  To  quote  from 
Public  Opinion,  a  non-partisan  and  independent  news- 
paper, the  new  bond  sale  disclosed  the  following  facts  : 
"  There  were  4,640  apparently  genuine  bids,  aggre- 
gating $568,269,850.  The  prices  offered  ranged  from 
par  to  120,  the  great  mass  of  bids  being  from  110  to 
112.  The  New  York  World's  bid  for  $1,000,000  at  114 
was  the  highest  for  any  considerable  amount.  J.  Pier- 
pont  Morgan,  for  himself  and  associates  (the  National 
City  Bank,  Harvey  Fish  &  Sons,  and  the  Deutsche 
Bank  of  Berlin),  bid  110.6877  for  the  whole  issue  or 
any  part  thereof.  John  A.  Stewart,  President  of  the 
United  States  Trust  Company,  for  himself  and  about 
180  banks  and  financial  institutions,  bid  110.075  for 
$76,000,000.  On  February  7th,  it  was  announced  at 
the  Treasury  Department  that  bids  aggregating  $66,- 
788,650  above  110.6877  had  been  received,  and  that  the 
780  persons  making  these  bids  would  receive  the  bonds. 
The  Morgan  syndicate  to  have  the  remaining  $33,211,- 
350.  The  sale  will  net  the  Government  about  $111,- 
000,000.  The  New  York  Tribune  says  that,  excluding 
the  Morgan  syndicate,  of  the  successful  bids  nearly 
$45,000,000  was  from  New  York,  nearly  $9,000,000 
from  New  England,  about  $5,500,000  from  other 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  257 

Eastern  States,  $3,000,000  from  Central  States  and 
Canada,  $3,200,000  from  Western  States,  and  $1,400,- 
000  from  Southern  States.  It  is  understood  that  one- 
fourth  of  the  Morgan  bonds  will  go  to  Berlin,  but  the 
Tribune  estimates  that  not  more  than  one-tenth  of  the 
successful  bids  were  on  European  account.  Two  days 
after  the  opening  of  the  bids,  the  Morgan  syndicate  was 
selling  bonds  of  tne  new  issue  on  the  New  York  Stock 
Exchange  for  116^  'gold7  Government  four  per  cents 
of  the  same  class  as  those  just  issued  were  selling  at 
116J  'cash.'  The  Treasury  gold  reserve  stood,  on 
February  17th,  at  $44,483,186." 

The  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce  adopted  a 
resolution  recognizing  "with  grateful  pride  the  confi- 
dence of  the  people  in  the  financial  strength  of  the 
country,  as  expressed  by  the  large  subscriptions  to  the 
Government  loan,"  and  declaring  its  belief  u  that  the 
extraordinary  success  of  this  loan  should  dispel  every 
doubt  as  to  the  ability  and  intention  of  the  United 
States  Government  to  redeem  all  its  obligations  in  the 
best  money  of  the  world." 

The  sale  proves  conclusively  that  the  financial  strength 
and  stability  of  the  United  States  Government  is  with- 
out parallel  throughout  the  world.  It  also  demonstrates 
that  the  people  are  not  deceived  by  deficiencies  in  the 
revenue  to  meet  the  expenditures  of  the  Government. 
Granted  a  competent  tariff  policy,  there  would  be 
neither  deficits  nor  bond  sales,  but  a  return  to  an  in- 
crease of  the  debt-paying  power  of  the  Government. 
Business  would  be  revived  and  increased  and  prosperity 
again  smile  upon  every  section  of  the  country. 

In  concluding  this  lengthy  but  hastily  prepared  re- 


258  THE  TARIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

view  of  our  tariff  legislation,  covering  a  period  of  more 
than  fifty  years  in  our  National  history,  it  would  be  im- 
possible for  me  to  enumerate  all  the  sources  and  authori- 
ties from  which  my  data  have  been  drawn.  The 
Congressional  Record  has  been  constantly  consulted, 
Benton's  u  Thirty  Years  View"  referred  to,  and  Elaine's 
masterly  u  Twenty  Years  in  Congress"  liberally  drawn 
upon,  for  of  all  authorities  on  tariff  legislation  it  is  at 
once  the  most  comprehensive,  graphic,  and  entertain- 
ing. No  student  could  dispense  with  that  standard 
work,  McPherson's  "  Handbook  of  Politics,"  and  from 
it  has  been  taken  the  record  of  many  details  of  measures 
pending  in  or  passed  by  Congress  since  the  outbreak  of 
the  Civil  War.  Hon.  Richard  W.  Thompson's  « His- 
tory of  the  Tariff"  has  been  consulted,  and  Henry  V. 
Poor's  pamphlet,  issued  during  the  campaign  of  1892, 
has  also  been  of  service.  Special  acknowledgment  of 
indebtedness  to  Hon.  Ellis  H.  Roberts'  excellent 
work  on  "  Revenue  and  Taxation  "  should  be  made, 
while  no  source  of  authority  has  been  more  frequently 
consulted  than  the  several  excellent  political  almanacs 
of  the  time,  notably  the  American  Almanac,  edited  by 
Mr.  Spofford,  Librarian  of  Congress,  the  New  York 
Tribune  Almanac,  from  Mr.  Greeley's  first  publication 
of  it  to  the  present  time,  the  encyclopaedic  New  York 
World  Almanac,  and  many  others.  The  American 
Economist,  Public  Opinion,  and  Review  of  Reviews 
have  also  been  frequently  consulted.  The  language  of 
many  writers  has  been  freely  adopted,  perhaps  too 
literally  in  some  cases,  but  the  attempt  has  been  made 
in  every  instance  to  acknowledge  the  source  and  author. 
The  aim  of  the  review  is  to  be  full,  accurate  and  prac- 


OF  HENKY  CLAY  AND  SINCE.  259 

tical,  to  quote  always  the  views  and  words  of  others 
rather  than  elaborate  my  own  opinions.  No  source  of 
authority  to  the  student  of  to-day,  the  annals  of  Con- 
gress alone  excepted,  is  so  valuable  in  such  work  as 
this  as  the  comprehensive,  studious,  and  careful  re- 
views of  Congressional  proceedings  made  each  year  for 
"  Appleton's  Annual  Cyclopaedia." 

It  has  been  my  aim  to  present,  as  completely  as  pos- 
sible, a  review  of  proposed  tariff  legislation  since  the 
close  of  the  Civil  War  to  the  present  time,  as  well  as  a 
sketch  of  the  measures  actually  enacted,  to  the  end  that 
the  student  may  observe  the  trend  and  purpose  of  the 
leading  political  parties  in  respect  to  this  economic 
question.  It  is  perhaps  impossible  to  write  of  these 
events  without  displaying  to  some  extent  partisan  bias 
or  preference,  but  it  has  been  my  honest  endeavor 
to  do  justice  to  all  who  directly  participated  in  them, 
or  have  written  or  spoken  as  "  those  who  speak  by 
authority"  about  them.  Some  subjects  have  been  in- 
troduced that  may  at  first  appear  foreign  to  a  review  of 
tariff  legislation,  but  this  has  seemed  necessary  because 
a  true  presentation  of  the  position  of  the  several 
political  parties  upon  kindred  subjects,  notably  those 
relating  to  labor,  immigration,  and  finance,  often  dis- 
closes more  clearly  than  anything  else  could  the  real 
views  of  the  opposing  sides  upon  the  main  issue.  But 
I  have  not  undertaken  to  treat  any  of  these  subjects  at 
length,  or  philosophically,  simply  to  group  together  for 
the  busy  man,  as  a  ready  reference,  what  has  been  done, 
or  proposed,  by  the  two  great  political  parties  of  the 
country.  The  matter  is  not,  and  could  not  be,  strictly 
original ;  much  herein  contained  has  already  been  used 


260  THE  TAKIFF  IN  THE  DAYS 

by  myself,  as  well  as  presented  more  ably  by  others. 
The  tariff  question  is  just  now  commanding  (and  will 
always  continue  to  command)  the  serious  attention  of 
the  American  people,  until  it  is  rightly  settled.  If  I 
have,  from  contemporaneous  history,  or  otherwise,  aided 
in  the  slightest  degree  the  honest  inquirer  who  cares  to 
contrast  the  past  with  the  present,  to  compare  history 
with  actual  daily  experience — to  the  end  that  he 
may  know  the  truth  about  the  two  great  contending 
systems,  and  thereby  reach  right  conclusions  for  his 
guidance  in  promoting  the  progress  and  prosperity  of 
our  country,  I  shall  be  glad.  Ascertaining  the  truth, 
and  dismissing  from  our  minds  all  prejudice  and  pre- 
conceived opinions,  let  us  have  the  wisdom  and  courage 
to  be  guided  by  it. 


CANTON,  Ohio,  May  25,  1896. 


INDEX 


NAMES. 


Adams,  John,  1. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  1 ;  on  advant- 
ages of  protective  system,  8, 13, 14, 19. 

Adams,  Chas.  H.,  resolution  relating  to 
tariff,  47. 

^Eiop,  reference  to  fable,  86. 

Aldrich,  Nelson  W.,  63.  101 ;  reciproci- 
ty amendment,  139, 140,  219 ;  finance 
committee,  1896,  241. 

Allen,  of  Nebraska,  251. 

Allison,  W.  B.,  101,  140,  155,  219; 
finance  com.,  241. 

Ambler,  J.  A  ,  tariff  commission,  59. 

Arthur,  President  C.  A.,  1st  annual 
message,  1881,  57;  approves  tariff 
com.  bill,  1881,  58 ;  recommends  re- 
ductions, 1882,  61 ;  approves  internal 
rev.  bill,  1883,  63 ;  last  annual  mes- 
sage, 1884,  73 

Ashmun,  George,  19. 

Atherton,  Chas.  G  ,  12, 

Ayer,  Ira,  Special  Treasury  Agent, 
report,  1892,  on  tin  plate,  174. 

Bank,  Nat.  City,  N.  Y.,  bid  for  loan, 
252. 

Bank,  Deutsche,  Berlin,  bid  for  loan, 
254. 

Barbour,  William,  letter  relating  to 
thread,  84 

Bayard,  Senator,  63. 

Bayard,  Richard  H.,  15. 

Bayne,  T.  M.,  99,  140. 

Beck.  Senator,  63. 

Bemen,  — ,  19. 

Benton,  Col.,  3,  4,  9,  10. 

"Bingham,  Representative,  155. 

Belmout,  A.  &  Co.,  239. 

Black,  James,  19. 

Black,  John  C.,  90. 

Elaine,  James  G.,  27;  letter  of  accep- 
tance, 1884,  67,  72  ;  declination,  1888, 
80,  139,  166,  184. 

Blair.  H.  W.,  145. 

Bland,  R.  P.,  97,  102,  103. 


Blodgett,  Senator,  102. 

Blount,  — ,  65. 

Boston  Thread  &  Twine  Co.,  85. 

BUeler,  A.  R,,  tariff  com.,  59. 

Botts,  JohnM.,  14. 

Bowler,  R.  B  ,  Comptroller,  decision 

on  sugar  bounty,  232. 
Brewer,  M.  S.,  145. 
Brewer,  Justice,  230,  231. 
Breckenridge,  — ,  65. 
Brower,  J.  M.,  bill  to  repeal  tobacco 

tax,  98. 

Brown,  Justice,  230,  231. 
Brooks,  James,  36. 
Bryan.  William  J.,  binding  twine  on 

free  list,  153. 
Buchanan,  James.  3,  6,  15,  25,  29,  80, 

3i,204. 
Buck,  John  R.,   error  affecting   knit 

goods,  60. 

Burrows,  J.  C.,  99,  101,  140,  202.  220. 
Butler,  B.  F.,  at  Dem.  Nat.  Convention, 

1884,  70. 
Bynum,  of  Ind.,  152. 

Calhoun,  John  C.,  as  a  protectionist,  5, 

9. 

Cameron,  Simon,  19. 
Cannon,  of  Utah,  251. 
Carlisle,  John  G.,  50,  62,  63;  Speaker, 

1884,  64,  73 ;  Speaker,  1886.  78,  82  ; 

speech  on  home  market,  1888,  86, 

101,  136,  140. 
Carter,  J.  C.,  280. 
Carter,  — ,  of  Montana,  251. 
Casey,  Zadoc,  13. 
Cass,  Lewis,  21. 
Caswetl,  L.  B.,  147. 
Catchings,  — ,  of   Miss.,  letter  from 

Pres.  Cleveland,  226. 
Chipman.  — ,  153. 
Choate,  J  H.,  230,  231. 
Choate,  Rufus,  15. 
Cmrk,  — ,  Alabama.  226. 
Claytons,  The,  of  Delaware,  19. 


INDEX. 


Cleveland,  Grover,  72 ;  inaugural,  1885, 
73,  77  ;  annual  message,  1887,  revision 
of  tariff,  78,  80  ;  letter  of  acceptance, 
1887,  94,  95 ;  annual  message,  1888, 
96,  147,  157;  nomination,  160  ;  letter 
relating  to  tariff  reform,  167,  171  ; 
inaugural  address,  1898,  185;  calls 
extra  session  of  Congress,  187,  188 ; 
message,  Dec.,  1893,  189;  letter  to 
Mr.  Wilson  on  conference,  220  ;  letter 
to  Mr.  Catchings  on  substitute  tariff 
law,  226  ;  annual  message,  1894.  283  ; 
special  message  relating  to  bonds, 
1895, 23'J  ;  annual  message,  1895,  241 ; 
special  message,  Dec.  20,  1895,  relat- 
tingto  finances,  243. 

Cobden,  Richard   18. 

Collamer,  Jacob,  19. 

Conklin<r,  Senator.  56. 

ConnelCW.  J.,  eight-hour  bill,  1890, 
14<L 

Converse,  Geo.  L.,  defeating  Morrison 
bill,  1884,  64. 

Corwin,  — ,  19. 

Covert.  J.  W.,  quinine  bill,  1879,  50. 

Cowles,  H.  H. ,  amendment  of  int.  rev. 
laws,  1889.  98. 

Cox,  8.  S.,  reduction  on  pig  iron,  41, 
65. 

Cox,  N.  N.,  relating  to  bond  issue,  239. 

Crawford.  — ,  204. 

Crisp,  C.  F.,  elected  Speaker,  52d  Con- 
gress, 148  ;  same,  53d  Congress,  187  ; 
candidate,  54th  Congress,  240. 

Crittenden,  John  J.,  15,  19. 

Culbertson,  D.  B.,  103. 

Cullom,  Senator,  155. 

Curtin,  Andrew  G.,  29. 

Dallas,  George  M.,  16,  19. 

Dalzell,  John,  145,  202,  240. 

Davis,  David,  elected  President  of  Sen- 
ate, 1881,  57. 

Davis,  Garrett.  18. 

Davis,  Robert  T. ,  constitutional  amend- 
ment, 1884,  65. 

Dayton,  William  L.,  15. 

Delano,  Columbus,  19. 

Dickerson,  Mahlon,  10. 

Dingley,  N.  J.,  Jr.,  99 ;  bill  relating  to 
worsted,  1890,  103,  140,  240 ;  bill  to 
increase  revenue,  245. 

Denver,  J.  P.,  240. 

Dolph,  Senator,  153. 

Douglas,  S.  A.   30. 

Dubois,  Senator,  251. 

Dunnell,  M.  H.,  59. 

Eaton.  W.  W.,  bill  for  investigating 
tariff,  1880,  53. 


Edmunds,  Senator,  102. 

Elkins,   S.   B.,   resolution  relating   to 

bonds,  1896,  250. 
Evans,  Walter,  240. 
Evans,  George,  15,  19. 

Farnsworth,  J.  F.,  abolishing  tax  on 
coal,  1871,  39. 

Fessenden,  William  Pitt,  13. 

Fiedler,  W.  H.,  constitutional  amend- 
ment, 1884,  Co. 

Field,  — ,  171. 

Field,  Justice,  230,  231. 

Fillmore,  Millard.  12. 

Fisk,  Harvey  &  Sons,  252. 

Flower,  R.  P.,  99,  140. 

Fowler,  Samuel,  bill  to  encourage  ship- 
ping, 154. 

Fremont,  Gen.    29. 

Frye,  W.  P.,  241. 

Fuller,  Chief  Justice,  230,  231. 

Garfield,  J.  A. ,  51 ;  minority  report  on 
iron,  1880,  52,  54. 

Gallatin,  — ,  204. 

Garland,  A.  M.,  59. 

Gear,  J.  H.,  99,  202. 

Geary,  T.  J.,  Chinese  bill,  1892,  152, 
153. 

Gentry,  Meredith  P.,  18. 

Giddings,  J.  R.,  19. 

Gogffin,  W.  L.,  13. 

Gorman,  A.  P.,  89,  155. 

Graham,  James,  18. 

Graham,  W.  A.,  15. 

Granger,  Francis,  13. 

Grant,  U.  S.,  appro-  es  tariff,  1870,  36  ; 
message,  Dec.,  1870,  37;  message, 
Dec.,  1871.  38,  39;  message.  1873, 
42  ;  message,  Dec. ,  1874, 45 ;  message, 
Dec.,  1875,  46,  .P6. 

Gray,  I.  P.,  90.  160. 

Gray,  Justice,  230,  231. 

Greeley,  Horace,  254 

Grosvenor,  C.  H.,  240. 

Guthrie  W.  D.,  231. 

Hale,  Eugene,  free  salt  bill,  1871,  40. 

Ha^tead,  Murat,  28. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  1,  204. 

Hamilton,  Senate  r,  36. 

Harlan,  Justice,  230,  231. 

Harris,  Senator,  219,  241. 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  94,  95  ;  inaugural, 
1889,  98;  message,  Dec..  1889.  99; 
special  message,  1890,  139  ;  message, 
Dec. .  1890.  141 ;  approves  restoration 
of  State  taxes,  1891,  147,  148  ;  mes- 
sage. Dec.,  1891,  149  ;  proclamation 
suspending  free  products  of  Hayti 


INDEX. 


1892,  152,  154,  156  ;  letter  of  accep- 
tance, Sep.,  1891,  160,  171 ;  message, 
Dec.,  1892,  172,  185. 

Harrison,  William  Henry,  6. 

Hatch,  W.  H.,  free  salt  bill,  50,  51. 

Haskell,  — ,  63. 

Hayes,  John  L.,  59. 

Hayes,  Rutherford  B.,  50,  53. 

Hawley,  J.  R.,44. 

Henderson,  J.  S.,  77. 

Hewitt,  A.  S.,  75. 

Hibbard,  Ellery  A.,  40. 

Hill,  D.  B.,  219. 

Hitt,  — ,  153. 

Hoar,  Senator,  103. 

Hiscock,  Frank,  77,  140. 

Holman,  W.  S.,  44,  155. 

Hooper,  — ,  35. 

Hopkins,  — ,  202,  240. 

Howard,  Jacob  M.,  13. 

Houston,  Samuel,  4. 

Hoyne,  — ,  6. 

Hunt,  Washington,  19. 

Kurd,  F.  H. ,  tariff  for  revenue,  53,  54, 
65. 

Ingalls,  J.  J.,  78. 
Ingersoll,  Charles  J. ,  19. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  recommends  tariff 
revision,  6  ;  resists  nullification,  9, 16, 
161,  231. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  1,  87, 161 ;  opposing 
excise  taxes,  246. 

Johnson,  M.  N.,  240. 

Jones,  B.  F.,  80. 

Jones,  J.  K.,  219,  241. 

Jones,  John  P.,  241,  251. 

Johnson,  Richard  M.,  4. 

Johnson,  William  Cost,  13. 

Johnson,  Reverdy,  19. 

Kane,  John  K.,  16. 

Kasson,  J.  A.,  bill  for  tariff  commis- 
sion, 57,  60. 

Keifer,  J.  W.,  elected  speaker,  56. 

Kelley,  William  D.,  36  ;  abolishing  int. 
rev.  system  1870,  38  ;  same  1871,  40  ; 
advocating  temporary  loans  1874,  43, 
56,  57,  59,  60,  62,  63,  82. 

Kelsey  of  N.Y.,  35. 

Kenner,  D.  F.,  59. 

Kerr,  M.  C. ,  elected  speaker,  46. 

Kyle,  Senator,  251. 

Lane,  Henry  S.,  13. 
Lane,  Joseph,  30. 
La  Follette,  R.  M.,  99. 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  29,  31. 
Lowe,  William  M.,  50. 


Madison,  James,  1,  2. 

Mahone,  Senator,  63. 

Mangan,  — ,  19. 

Manderson,  C.  F.,  149,  219. 

Manning,  Daniel,  204. 

Mantle,  of  Montana,  251. 

Marshall,  Samuel  S.,  35. 

Marshall,  Thomas  F.,  13. 

McDill,  Senator,  63. 

McKenna,  Joseph,  99,  104. 

McKennan,  Thomas  T.,  14. 

McKinley,  William,  Jr.,  54,  63,  82,  99, 

101 ;  introduces  tariff  bill,  April  16, 

1890,  103,  140. 
McLaurin,  John,  241. 
McMahon,  William  H.,  59. 
McMillan,  B.,  99,  140,  220,  240. 
McLane,  Louis,  4. 
McPherson,  Senator,  101,  137. 
Mills,  Roger  Q.,  resolution  to  revise 

tariff,  1877,  48.  50,  53,  57,  58,  65,  78  ; 

reports  bill  to  reduce  taxation,  etc., 

April,  1888,  82  ;   opening  speech,  83, 

97,    99,    103;     minority   report   on 

McKinley  bill,  125. 
Monroe,  James,  1. 
Montgomery,  — ,  220. 
Morgan,  Geo.  W.,  34. 
Morgan,  Senator,  153. 
Morgan,  J.  P.  &  Co.,  240,  252. 
Morgan,  J.  S.  &  Co.,  240. 
Morrill,  Justin  S.,  reports  tariff  bill, 

1860,  80,  36,  58,  60,  62,  73,  78,  137, 

149,  187,  241,  251. 
Morrison,  W.  R.,  46,  47,  50,  63,  64,  65, 

73 ;  introduces  bill  to  reduce  tariff, 

1886,  75,  76,  77. 
Morrow,  Jeremiah,  13. 
Morton,  Levi  P.,  94. 
Mutchler,  W.  J.,  145. 

Neal,  Lawrence  T.,  157,  159. 
Niles,  John  M.,  19. 
New  York  World,  252. 

Gates,  W.  C.,  148. 

Oliver,  H.W.,  Jr.,  59. 

Olney,  Attorney  General,  230,  231. 

O'Neill,  J.  J.,  an  eight-hour  amend- 
ment, 1888,  89. 

Owen,  W.  D.,  Owen  Immigration  Law, 
147,  148. 

Oxnard  Beet  Sugar  Co.,  232. 

Parker,  Hosea  W.,  40, 
Parker,  William  F.,  29. 
Parmenter,  William,  13. 
Payne,  S.  E.,  99,  202.  220,  240. 
Peck,    Labor    Commissioner,    N.    Y., 
report  1891,  174. 


INDEX. 


Peffer,  Senator,  219,  251. 
Pendleton,  John  8.,  18. 
Pendleton,  Nathaniel  Q.,  13. 
Platt,  O.  H.,  241. 
Polk,  James  K.,  6, 16,  17,  18,  22. 
Poor,  H.  V.,  254. 
Porter,  R.  P.,  59. 
Price,  Hiram,  54. 

Randall,  Samuel  J.,  bill  to  put  tea  and 
coffee  on  free  list,  1871,  39  ;  speaker, 
46  ;  speaker,  48  ;  speaker,  1879,  50, 
63,  64,  65  ;  compromise  tariff  bill,  76  ; 
argues  for  home  market,  87, 88, 97,  98. 

Rayner,  Kenneth,  13. 

Reed,  T.  B.,  62, 82  ;  argument  on  tariff, 
85;  speaker  51st  Congress,  99,  202, 
220;  bill  to  authorize  bonds,  238, 
239 ;  speaker,  240. 

Reid,  Whitelaw,  156 ;  letter  of  accept- 
ance, 165, 171. 

Reeves,  Henry  A. ,  reducing  salt  duties, 
35. 

Roberts,  E.  H.,  254. 

Rothschild,  K  M.  &  Sons,  239. 

Russell,  C.  A.,  240. 

Samford,  W.  J.,  introduces  tariff  bills, 
1880,  61. 

Sayres,  — ,  155. 

Schenck,  Robert  C.,  19,  36. 

Scott,  W.  L.,  39,  89,  92. 

Sherman,  John,  86,  63.  73 ;  introduces 
bill  against  trusts,  Jan.,  1890,  102, 
137,  138,  140,  153,  189,  219,  241  ;  res- 
olution relating  to  gold  reserve,  249, 
250. 

Shepperson,  A.  B..  174. 

Shiras,  Justice,  230,  231. 

Shively,  B.  F.,  bill  reducing  duty  on 
tin,  154. 

Singer  Sewing  Machine  Co  ,  85. 

Smith,  Caleb  B.,  19. 

Smith,  Samuel,  10. 

Speer,  of  Georgia,  63. 

Spofford,  — ,  254. 

Springer,  W.  M.,  82, 148,  238,  239. 

Steele,  George  W.,  240. 

Stephens,  Alexander  H.,  18. 

Stevens,  Thaddeus,  31. 

Stevenson,  A.E..  160,  170,  171. 

Stewart,  of  Vermont,  102,  103. 

Stewart,  of  Nevada,  251. 

Stewart,  John  A.,  252. 

Sturgeon,  Daniel,  15,  19. 


Taylor,  E.  B.,  102. 

Taylor,  Zachary,  21. 

Tarsney,  J.  C.,  241. 

Teller,  Senator,  251. 

Thompson,  P.  B.,  59,  65. 

Thompson,  Richard  W.,  13,  254. 

Thurman,  Allen  G.,  90. 

Toombs,  Robert,  18. 

Townsend,  R.  W.,  bill  to  abolish  duty 

on  salt,  51,  52. 

Tucker,  of  Virginia,  50,  52,  54,  63,  65. 
Turner,  H.  G.,  99,  140,  220,  240. 
Tyler,  John,  6,  11,  13;   censured  by 

House,  14. 

Underwood,  J.  W.  H.,  59. 
United  States  Trust  Co.,  252. 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  4,  6,  204. 
Vance,  Senator,  60,  140. 
Vest,  Senator,  103,  219,  241. 
Voorhees,  Daniel  W.,  140, 187,  219,  241. 

Wade,  W.  H.,  bill  relating  to  eight-hour 
law,  and  bill  relating  to  contract  la- 
bor, 145  ;  bill  forbidding  purchase  of 
products  of  convict  labor,  146. 

Walker,  Robert  J.,  report,  17 ;  tariff, 
18.  26. 

Walthall,  E.  C.,  241. 

Ward,  Hamilton,  wants  free  coal,  35. 

Washington,  George,  1. 

Weaver,  — ,  171. 

Webster,  Daniel,  5,  6,  10,  19,  204. 

White,  8.  M.,  241. 

White,  Justice,  230,  231. 

Wheeler,  Joseph,  241. 

Whiting,  J.  R.,  bill  reducing  duty  on 
lead,  154. 

Whitney,  Ass't  Att'y  Gen.,  231. 

Williams,  Ruel.  15. 

Wilmot,  David,  29. 

Wilson,  William  L.,  187  ;  bill  repealing 
Sherman  Silver  Act  of  1890,  189  ;  in- 
troduces tariff  bill  Dec.,  1893,  193  ; 
speech  July  7,  1894,  220,  226. 

Winthrop,  Robert  C.,  19. 

Wolcott,  E.  O.,  145,  241. 

Wood,  Fernando,  48;  bill  reducing 
duties  March,  1878,  49,  50;  death 
1881,  54. 

Wright,  bilas,  6,  15. 

Wythe,  Chancellor,  1. 


INDEX. 

SUBJECTS. 


Arbitration,  bill,  1887,  76. 
Austria  Hungary,  treaty,  160. 

Barbados,  treaty,  150. 

Binding  twine,  W.  J.  Bryan's  bill,  153, 
213. 

Bond  issue,  236,  238  ;  Cleveland's  mes- 
sage, 239 ;  same,  243  ;  Sherman's 
speech,  250  ;  Elkins  bill,  250  ;  new 
loan,  251 ;  bids  received,  252,  253. 

Books,  etc.,  119. 

Brazil,  treaty,  150. 

British  Guiana,  treaty,  150. 

Butter,  cheese,  etc.,  122. 

Canned  meats,  etc.,  repeal  of  tax.  41. 
Chinese  immigration,   bill,    1888,  89 ; 

.  bill,  1892, 152. 
Clothing,  tax,  33. 

Coal,  to  abolish  duty,  85;  same,  40, 217. 
Convention.  Democratic  National,  1868, 

34  ;    1872,  41  ;    1876,  47  ;    1880,  55  ; 

1884,  70 ;  1888,  90  ;  1892,  156. 
Convention,  Republican  National,  1860, 

28  ;   1868,  34  ;    1872,  42  ;    1876,  47 ; 

1880,  54  ;   1884,  65  ;  1888,  90;  1892, 

155. 
Contract  labor,  bill,  65 ;  bill  passed,  73, 

to  prohibit  immigration  of,  145. 
Corporations,  tax  on,  33. 
Cotton,  tax  on  raw,  38  ;   duty  reduced, 

41 ;  free  bagging,  ties,  etc.,  153. 
Customs,  receipts,   1847  to  1861,  26; 

during  four  years  of  tariff  of  1857, 

26 ;    1862  to  1870,  32  ;    decrease,  36  ; 

decrease,  41  ;    duties   reduced,    45  ; 

1874  to  1880,  54  ;  decrease,  254. 

Debt,  reduction,  34. 

Exports,  increased,  143,  149,  150,  175. 

Financial  crisis,  1837,  11. 
Force  bill,  1833,  9. 

Germany,  treaty,  150. 

Gold,    discovery    in    California,    22 ; 

drain  to  Europe,  23,  26. 
Great  Britain,  treaty,  150. 
Grenada,  treaty,  150. 


Guatemala,  treaty,  150. 

Hawaiian,  treaty,  148. 
Hayti,  treaty,  150. 
Honduras,  treaty,  150. 
Horses,  etc.,  122,  182,  188. 

Immigration,     Owen   law,    147,    148; 

contract  labor,  145. 
Imports,  exceeded  exports,  26,  27. 
Income  tax,  32,  33  ;   fixed  at  2%  per 

cent.,  36;    to  abolish,  54  ;   attacked, 

229  ;  Supreme  Court  decision,  230. 
Internal  revenue,  W.  D.  Kelley  on,  38  ; 

same,  40  ;  reduction,  59  ;  bill  passed, 

62;    amended,  1892,  152;  decrease, 

234. 
Internal    taxes,    1862    to    1866,    38; 

reduced,    33 ;     reduced,    1870,    36 ; 

reduced,  41. 
Iron  and  steel,  to  reduce   duty,   36; 

same,  41,    115 ;      production,    142  ; 

production,  175  ;  rails,  198 ;  ore,  206, 

208. 

Labor,  arbitration  bill,  76 ;  convict  bill, 
76  ;  eight-hour  law,  89  ;  sundry  bills, 
144  ;  to  adjust  accounts,  145  ;  con- 
tract labor  immigration,  145  ;  pro- 
ducts of  convict  labor,  146 ;  to 
enforce  eight-hour  law,  154. 

Labor  commissioner,  Peck's  report,  N. 
Y.,  174;  Mass,  report,  174. 

Lead,  154 ;  Harrison's  letter  relating  to, 
163. 

Leather,  taxes,  83  ;  duty  reduced,  41. 

Leeward  Islands,  treaty,  150. 

Loans,  recommended,  43  ;  opposed,  44. 

Match  tax  repealed,  54. 
Mexico,  war  with,  22. 

National  debt,  increase,  28. 

Naval  construction  bill  allowing  foreign 

steel,  60. 

Nicaragua,  treaty,  150. 
Nullification  ordinance,  19. 

Panic,  1837, 11  ;  1857,  24,  25  ;  1873,  44. 
Pinkerton  detectives,  159. 


INDEX. 


Protection,  inimical  to  enslaved  labor, 
9.  (See  Tariff.) 

Quinine,  on  free  list,  50. 

Revenue  measures  of  1846  and  1851,  26. 
Revenue  reform,  Grant's  message,  37. 

(See  Tariff.) 
Reciprocity,  Aldrich's  amendment,  139; 

Harrison    recommends,     139,     140 ; 

treaties,  150, 152. 

Salt,  etc.,  bill  to  exempt,  34;  reduction, 

35  ;  to  exempt,  40,  213. 
Salvauor,  treaty,  150. 
San  Domingo,  treaty,  150. 

Savings  banks,  tax,  33  ;  deposits,  177. 

Shipping,  to  grant  registers  to  foreign, 
154. 

Silver,  130,  131 ;  ores,  130,  131  ;  repeal 
of  act  of  1890, 187, 189  ;  free  coinage, 
251. 

Slavery  agitation,  21. 

Spain,  treaty,  150. 

Specie,  exports,  1855-6-7,  26. 

Spirits.  Dunnell's  bill,  59,  65. 

Stamps,  to  repeal  law,  54. 

Steam  engines,  taxes,  33. 

Sugar,  etc.,  bill  to  exempt,  34;  to 
reduce,  36  ;  use  of  machinery,  77, 
117,  119,  133,  134,  136  ;  reciprocity, 
140,  150,  165 ;  repeal  of  reciprocity, 
201,  211,  219,  222 ;  bounty,  232 ; 
German  protest,  233,  234 

Tariff,  laws  1812  to  1816,  1 ;  duties 
never  higher,  1828,  6  ;  1833,  9,  10  ; 
1842,  11  ;  popularity  of,  1842,  16 ; 
1846,  18 ;  provisions  of,  1846,  20  ; 
condemnation  of,  184$,  21 ;  1857,  21 ; 
1857,  24  ;  bill  of  1860,  30,  31,  32  ;  no 
constitutional  power,  35;  law  of  1870, 

36  ;    Grant  advises  revision,  38  ;   for 
revenue  only,  40  ;    Grant's  message, 
1876,  46 ;    Morrison's  bill,  47  ;   Mills' 
resolution,    48 ;    Wood's    bill,    49 ; 
Samford's  bill,  51  ;  to  abolish  duty  on 
salt,  etc. ,  51 ;    to  regulate  duty  on 
hoop  iron,  etc.,  52;    on  sugar,  52  ; 
commission,  53;  Hurd's  bill,  1880,  53; 
Arthur's  message,  1881,  57  ;  Mills  on, 
57  ;  Arthur's  message,  1882,  61 ;  bill, 
1882,  62  ;    revised  by  passage  of  in- 
ternal revenue  bill,  63  ;    Morrison's 
horizontal  bill,  64  ;  Cleveland  advises 
reduction,  74  ;    Morrison's  bill,  1886, 
75  ;    same,  76  ;    Randall's  bill,  1886, 
76;  Cleveland's  message,  78;  Elaine's 
letter,  1888,  80  ;    Mills  bill,  82  ;  Mills' 
speech,  83  ;   Reed's  speech,  85  ;   Car- 


lisle's speech,  88  ;  Randall's  speech, 
87  ;  Senate  bill,  88 ;  Cleveland's 
message,  96  ;  Mills  bill,  97  ;  Cowles 
bill,  98  ;  Harrison's  inaugural,  1889, 
98;  message,  1889,  99;  McKinley 
bill,  relating  to  revenue  collection. 
1889,  101 ;  McKinley  tariff  bill,  1890? 
103  ;  reciprocity  amendment,  139  ; 
Harrison's  message,  142 ;  ' '  pop-gun  " 
bills,  1892,  153;  Harrison's  message, 
1891,  149;  Harrison's  letter,  160; 
Reid's  letter,  165  ;  Cleveland's  letter, 
167  ;  Stevenson's  letter,  170  ;  Harri- 
son's message,  1892, 172  ;  Cleveland's 
message,  1893,  185;  Cleveland's 
message,  188 ;  same,  1893,  190  ;  Wil- 
son bill,  193  ;  minority  report,  202  ; 
Cleveland's  letter  to  Wilson,  220 ; 
"popgun"  bills,  225;  Wilson  bill 
not  signed,  226  ;  Cleveland's  letter  to 
Catchings,  226  ;  Cleveland's  message, 
1895,  241  ;  Dingley's  bill  and  report, 
245. 

Tariff  Commission,  53  ;  Kasson's  bill, 
1882,  57;  appointed,  59;  report,  1882, 
61. 

Tax,  bill  to  abolish  special,  36  ;  re- 
funded to  states,  146. 

Tea  and  coffee,  20  per  cent,  duty,  15  ; 
bill  to  exempt,  34  ;  to  reduce,  36  ;  to 
put  on  free  list,  39  ;  duty,  46  ;  to  be 
restored,  53,  150 ;  repeal  of  recipro- 
city, 201. 

Tin,  116,  126,  135;  to  reduce,  154; 
companies  manufacturing,  174;  plate, 
198. 

Tobacco,  to  exempt,  34  ;  leaf,  77  ;  to 
repeal  tax,  98,  122,  123,  124,  135, 199. 

Tobago,  treaty,  150. 

Tonnage,  Detroit  River,  176;  R.  R.,  177. 

Treasury,  receipts,  30  ;  receipts,  1873, 
42;  receipts,  1891, 151;  receipts,  1893, 
189  ;  minority  claim  Wilson  bill  will 
reduce,  205 ;  receipts,  1894,  243 ; 
receipts,  1895,  244. 

Trinidad,  treaty,  150. 

Trusts,  Sherman's  bill,  1890,  102. 

Venezuelan  question,  242. 

Washington  Electric  R.  R.  bill  requir- 
ing American  rails,  90. 

Windward  Islands,  treaty,  150. 

Wool  and  Woolens,  tax,  33  ;  reduced, 
41 ;  bill,  59  ;  to  correct  error  on  knit 
goods,  60  ;  classification  of  worsteds, 
103  ;  amount,  1889,  and  imports,  111, 
112,  113,  124,  127,  130  ;  reciprocity, 
140  ;  to  make  free,  153  ;  Harrison's 
letter,  163  ;  on  free  list,  200,  214,  248. 


14     62T4 


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